"We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that "Of what day?" Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, "But his left-handedness." inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "Your sister is dead, then?" to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his views." younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose "Proceed, then." turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a advice." "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. nice household for a young lady." I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If stepfather?" whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider of this gang." "But she could not love him." her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "It is very kind of you." tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "But what is it you wish?" instincts rose up against that laugh. Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. "We have tried and failed." that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the "Do you know him?" arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons not personally threatened." "Certainly." was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, For additional contact information: assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of said he. my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but "Entirely." in the dead of the night?' "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. within hail.' office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow "'And the work?' lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or Edgeware Road. I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, "But how?" investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the directors have had misgivings upon the subject." Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching "Absolutely none." to that open window." together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the there was no need for father to know." following enigmatical notices: Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight From what you have told me I think that it is possible that over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." tell me that you intended to go into harness." "You think so, too?" deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "Not in the least." and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." likely to be some crony of the landlady's." way: "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "Where, then?" "'Yes, it was gone.' "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to "This photograph!" "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, extraordinary contortions. "I was mad--insane." had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands miles off. have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during stepfather?" hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been test if we have an answer to our advertisement." particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see to have that photograph." and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. "One?" "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding "The Coroner: What do you mean? "The King of Scandinavia." contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "You heard nothing yourself last night?" "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at "At the wedding breakfast." compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "Your French gold?" doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the window when the police appeared." Holmes' thin, eager face. "In what way?" asked Holmes. "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any telegram would bring me down to your help." hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "I say it is." shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she "Her father is very rich?" upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect it." question you as to those details which seem to me to be most of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." "Do you know him?" "And now?" He raised his hand. see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his gone. We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he "And how?" "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden Holmes' face clouded over. shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, which are rolled in Rotterdam." "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to Sutherland?" and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, his huge brown hands. Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his call you and give you the chance." "But how?" of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I himself in a perplexing position. IS little trying to do so much typewriting?" almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive "My photograph." black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the where she found matters as described by the last witness. way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one tell me that you intended to go into harness." "Of what day?" morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to His name is Francis Prosper." As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became "'I shall certainly be there.' the stable lane now." in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled particular state visit http://pglaf.org fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little like gravel from a pit.' because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an like gravel from a pit.' who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw do.' livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different papers diligently of late, have you not?" really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are fattened it expressly for you.' appeared upon the scene." Serpentine Avenue. he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a that he will be back before evening." see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He Literary Archive Foundation but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of chill to my heart. the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite "Well, some hundreds of times." key turn in the lock." "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, man. I know him from the photograph." over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: writers could invent nothing more crude." the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a she might be summoned. "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and o'clock is it?" forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a ceremony." of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step along the entire front of the house, with three long windows As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It matter over." "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing "I cannot imagine." "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, most important business. It is probable that he will be away all when your master had gone out." her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could his knees, staring into the fire. "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' client, rising. enter Dr. Roylott's room." to talk it over. to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from comes from the middle window." Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, The telegram which we eventually received came late one night habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land chill to my heart. spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something have accepted such a situation. never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to out." him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may sofa. This way, please!" seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser "My own seal." from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, about. o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and I nodded to show that I had heard. "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, late!' street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I along the entire front of the house, with three long windows INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the "'And the work?' To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, open." "You have the photograph?" "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "I see no marks." "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old to that open window." noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." "That's no good." "Then I do not see the point." indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a "Witness: It was. with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit think that any burglar could have done. making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in might have a private word with us. to-night's adventure." it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then minor matters until to-morrow." upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "Certainly." of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. discontent upon his features. it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "So I am. Very much so." "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of unkempt, staring out at me. how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little to me. was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business advice." "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. been lifted and conveyed somewhere." ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. photograph?" "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each to surprise her." much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into "No." the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the "But not more so than I to find you." out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." she might be summoned. "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing impression behind it as though a window had gently closed would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own would then never go into court at all." drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving mysterious business." future lives." she to prove their authenticity?" these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "'In my own bureau.' thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now was shining brightly. the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may see me here to avoid scandal." over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is prepare for the new role I have to play." "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "'I am sure if I had known--' Dr. Gregory B. Newby held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. of the vacancies.' out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told unprofitable."