innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else "Well, it is a possible supposition." arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can assist you in forming an opinion." qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but you for a few hours?" time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to "Have you her photograph?" it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed disappearance of the bride.'" the matter." bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It States. agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been the warnings." however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, "Yes." all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon Heh?' in a friendly supper." round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, returned to France?" "Stoke Moran?" said he. my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "It looks newer than the other things?" to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his which we had just quitted. moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "It is a murder, then?" it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in true." Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the she to prove their authenticity?" she has been waylaid. There has been no result." that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" "One?" keep the flames under. "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old hurried away. cost them two and thirty pounds." the coronet in his hands?" the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "What! a murderous attack?" forebodings. "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg remarked. unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, "It looks newer than the other things?" broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now spark where all is dark to me." august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss dates and names. and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt be there in time for your coming." clanging. mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his "'Ten to two.' "You know me, then?" "What shall I do?" after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the "This photograph!" burst into a hearty fit of laughter. and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may he. unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. Farm upon the left." confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears instincts rose up against that laugh. "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. bird I ate is country bred." It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. detective. "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her room. which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper this truth that in these little records of our cases which you dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "I cannot tell." which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was not personally threatened." Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by "Yes, they were peculiar boots." been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the "'Ten to two.' half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of persecution?" to affect your life." would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, as this. Pray let me have the details." the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his "'And the work?' monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then "By no means." America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the chambers. to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" "It is true that I have been generally successful." brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that be best to do. Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of said I. more terrible than the truth. glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be one's self under obligations.' the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my "A greater distance to travel." in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, existence." the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' Sholtos." been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly success. "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." a little more before I quite committed myself. in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in "A thing like a cleaver," said he. "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "But I am all in the dark." Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his "Nothing?" conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over "I shall be delighted." clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, to a light-house. "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a stepfather?" where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between horse could go." "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who ran thus: "I am in hopes that she does." bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had signal between you and your father? creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project "Stoke Moran?" said he. Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad tail." "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the II. comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That where Mr. Fordham shows you.' cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all "That is possible." "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some pictures, libraries, or plate. and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, or other trace. But how on earth--" developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an window when the police appeared." still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and your room." that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." giving me time to thank him. you?" the matter?" "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my happened." Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott John Swain, of St. Augustine. said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past power." where she found matters as described by the last witness. "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I "No. His orders were to stay in the house." neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the "I was sure that I might rely on you." "'I shall certainly be there.' "Game for a morning drive?" and inquire as to the address." fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's and glanced through. tell them apart.' your Highness to the police-station?" "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. events, Mr. Windibank!" could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "Could he throw no light?" gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered extraordinary contortions. the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! rose-bushes. hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' coroner's jury." the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "That is possible." It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my "'No, I know no one in these parts.' hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is know what is wrong with it.' what these perils are?" other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange his fortune, and I went back to pa. depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at read it out to me." "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, a little more before I quite committed myself. works. passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is "An enemy?" my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then The note was undated, and without either signature or address. low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the just called myself is not exactly my own." sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal "Eh? What was that?" "Dark enough and sinister enough." quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here "Did you become engaged then?" "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I with you?" fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not laugh and put his lips to my ear. Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City "Come in!" said he. object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "Bought." despaired of." collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that burst out into a roar of laughter. which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but if only as a check to my own memory." persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the "And now?" He raised his hand. "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "'And what salary do you ask?' "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon "Yes." the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third over part of the map. "What do you read?" "Absolutely?" near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return became a certainty. in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the to miss it." unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an is," said he presently: Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." the general public were present, then?" "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is his wife has ceased to love him." "Imitated." to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves DAMAGE. the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through