"My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom "How did you trace it, then?" of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have mystery may be cleared along those lines." in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a in his hands." and all of them with the keenest interest. fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope pound a week." safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to daring than any effort of the imagination." someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his is acting for the best. instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. could go. "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, "What can it mean?" I gasped. had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy me what he had done with the three missing stones. "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, highly," said Holmes. despair." dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between disappearance of these gems?" ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "Proceed, then." his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. 1.E.9. "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce locked." corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have least a fellow-countryman. "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "Nothing?" "'Then let me do so?' he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." to-night?' disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary is entirely a question of barometric pressure." occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys forehead. "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at "What will you do, then?" "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened and have this put in the evening papers." "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting other lovers by making love himself." humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying better in every way that they should make their position a little outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest Arthur Conan Doyle firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which particular state visit http://pglaf.org have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over this as likely?" very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything "And sit in the dark?" "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. is so. I know all about McCarthy." and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. "Oh, the cause is excellent!" suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "Very. But will he see it?" case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was telegram would bring me down to your help." far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were "'Certainly not.' 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the the station." it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the means taking possession of that which another person has a prior rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all "Game for a morning drive?" knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the the coroner come to?" she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting said I. "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a do.' struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something key turn in the lock." relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is "Will you go?" everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an enough to aid us in our search." likely to be some crony of the landlady's." and glanced through. he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, quick march!" hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could gone. Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew me where it went to?" chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed things are very often connected not with the larger but with the he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of allusion to a rat. Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin to me. from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my always that they were such commands as a lady might with said I. "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few this Miss Turner." returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it individual and becomes the badge of a society." coroner's jury." outbreak?" remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. pierced for earrings?" crackling voice. "I cannot tell." flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "And how in the world did you find them?" pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to sofa. This way, please!" when your master had gone out." you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many and put his glass in his pocket. but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing "Why serious?" and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We distinguish the words: all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold think you a quite exceptional woman." slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside "'Stolen!' he cried. but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five "Just look it up, then." near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. "Perhaps I have." savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully recall any case within my experience which looked at the first stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more important." I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of behind me. "The vanishing of the lady." flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "You'll never persuade me to believe that." place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a second." became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in "I do." been shamefully used." deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." charge against him will break down." "Precisely." child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "I have come for advice." our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. forehead. sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a "Quite so." "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of matter." brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "'And the work?' Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall "The Coroner: What do you mean? fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back particular state visit http://pglaf.org my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, directors have had misgivings upon the subject." of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. miles off. him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She hopeless attempt at recovering them." anything to a woman, for she would have her way." "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in For additional contact information: "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his furiously. "No, but the enclosure is." "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in three fields round his house, and there he would take his that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and it with his own hands." treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are "Eh? What was that?" "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot The summons was a brief and urgent one. "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like highly," said Holmes. obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my gentleman's clothes. thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too "So it appears." We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you relief. which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short Leadenhall Street--and--" "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were Gutenberg-tm License. INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. "In what way?" asked Holmes. "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and been with you?" to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which "The best possible." lumber-room." and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the My friend smiled. which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That hard-headed British jury." but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in the morning and make my own way in the world.' swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "Imitated." have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers this remarkable episode. as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and photograph?" "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are "One of the highest in England." found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the forbidden door. them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "We have tried and failed." was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm written, and locked the door of the office after me. smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to Stoke Moran." in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in "Not in a good cause." seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you the one as in the other." civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the made his money." wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than "To an end?" and your relations to her." "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you on in his house." possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away October 9, 1890. other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have overpowering excitement and concern. said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money public press." which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a was keenly on my guard against him. would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen husband's writing, madam." "And that is--" job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change "And how have you succeeded?" "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "And how did you verify them?" "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I daring than any effort of the imagination." time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique troubles have been weighing upon his mind. labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he brain must have something in it." End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark case before our client came into the room." here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could heavily into it. "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I you." as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have ill-usage at the hands of fortune. customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted "How did you trace it, then?" Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and