know what is wrong with it.' wife's character?" "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, that you saw all that I did." "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do Lestrade of Scotland Yard." laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from past. something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that as noiselessly as she had come. asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had ways of our fellow-men." fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the "But you can know nothing of this?" tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her distance from the station, and there we found the young lady registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, society." and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of lost his Christmas dinner." The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived with you?" "Which are?" where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." "Yes?" "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "Yes." "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered and all of them with the keenest interest. and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' what these perils are?" "Yes, only one." http://gutenberg.net/license). "She told me to ask you." "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen the general public were present, then?" stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor "I cannot as yet see any connection." study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may "Yesterday." The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of noise which awoke you from your sleep?" he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass someone who had been in Australia." "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can searched, without anything being found which could incriminate "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I disappearance of the bride.'" "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you hurried by. and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six "Holmes, the busybody!" leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending door?" time." have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal that I am arrested." "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord for securing the situation." you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be and wait." the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined "And why?" or in danger--" vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by anything to a woman, for she would have her way." Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble and the colonel ushered me in. and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a you?' "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each the window, rose as we entered. company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "I should like to see him very much." Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She some place of shelter and let the county police know what has "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that the running down." to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked I leave." and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "I am sure." through." have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as go back?" of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal brandy and water within his reach. this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and hardly wander." cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to do.' "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "'What are you doing there?' he asked. more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong This is what he says: "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, "How did that help you?" He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands to arrive at through this?" explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was colonel looking down at me. surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were future lives." its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" ourselves in the office." instincts rose up against that laugh. "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to said I. child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' with you alone." and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my down from London to inquire more deeply into it." should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is on in his house." His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that in your London, you will know that the office of the company is roused himself from his reverie. assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." Leadenhall Street--and--" "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black second window is the one that I jumped from." "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a 11:15.' in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter "And the murderer?" a monotonous occupation." doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." woven round him. "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may "So I am. Very much so." front of the hall door has given its name to the place. hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been look upon these things in a different way." said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "What then?" shadow pass over his face as I spoke. mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "'Which dealer's?' and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "He said that you could solve anything." that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect "To ruin me." "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it could go. "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "Not in a good cause." the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little your co-operation." building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. done what I asked you, Jones?" was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. least a fellow-countryman. either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and "Yes." "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is Holmes. the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips Count Von Kramm." elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit awkward doing business with an alias." Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His "Dr. Becher's." get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such to-morrow." "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without before the coroner and the police-court." "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of train.' and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is wedding?" "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" shag which I had seen upon the previous night. slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the front of me. accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His him to be an active member of the medical profession." that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. have got?" never will be, entirely cleared up. "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, breakfast?" "What shall I do?" convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "I think it very unlikely." upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety bed dies. Does not that strike you?" went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our "No?" ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their not use it unless it is absolutely needed." to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my "I am following you closely," I answered. to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a along the entire front of the house, with three long windows The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point of note-paper. It read in this fashion: "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how "Your sister is dead, then?" Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in "One of the highest in England." "But she will refuse." "Then he might have called to you?" "Yes." of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, "And on what day did he meet his death?" shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had "And how did you verify them?" overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building this man was intellectual?" to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up garden below. time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and "How did you trace it, then?" purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. chill to my heart. father's young wife. highly," said Holmes. permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, "I think that I had better go, Holmes." in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long not come at once?" "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "'And the work?' down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a stood on the top of it. "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do garden below. since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his passage and a tap at the door. petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it meant it for the best. he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the there!' to a light-house. "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger to surprise her." "What office?" nothing of it?" humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." notes," he said. case before our client came into the room." married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at roused himself from his reverie. extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have "Could he throw no light?" a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save lamp. "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and "Yesterday." All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I little adventures." from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "At what time?" have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At the bed, and you in that chair." Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. your only hope of safety." "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to of your young ladies.' answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new "'Most admirably.' the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always "'I have heard so.' outbreak?" pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here DISSOLVED. can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the