rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland she to prove their authenticity?" "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been shadow pass over his face as I spoke. conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "'You doubt its value?' he asked. "By no means." job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency least a most suspicious remark." America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned foot. active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and of the efforts of the United States government and of the better eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he power." which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, awaited us upon the table. facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any The King stared at him in amazement. and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. "But to whom?" opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." and the whole place is in a blaze." made him keep the appointment." that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the me, and I could not think that his explanation of the the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." back into the street. Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is how narrow had been my escape. while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than "What is it?" request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy intrusion of other matters." slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, "What!" he roared. sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on that there was nothing in it, after all." the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "I promise," said Holmes. very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. rose-bushes. "I was sure that I might rely on you." did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to remarked. "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." yards of it?' horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. maiden herself was most instructive." "You think so, too?" I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, "I came to find a friend." national property. I was determined that the law should have its now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "'Most admirably.' have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point chill to my heart. and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until "Bought." chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my is now desirous of getting those letters back." "Imitated." in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and been with you?" Holmes' thin, eager face. charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting them, and came down just as you departed. deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of them?" "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men know all about it," he snarled. glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in "'I have already given you my word.' on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips have not had my rubber." dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you this unhappy family?" "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to to a light-house. "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. mystery!" lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter "I think that I had better go, Holmes." stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would amused." hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he must compliment you." It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared was a loud and authoritative tap. eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you them present such singular features as the strange train of the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was "I beg pardon." about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely maiden herself was most instructive." poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about know that the truth is known." "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as particular state visit http://pglaf.org of a light. breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, him to be an active member of the medical profession." been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of to a more successful conclusion." town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. pierced for earrings?" as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! "Did your wife hear all this?" in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." "What of the rat, then?" yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. some city in a dream. We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon "And what then?" his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an instituted." edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your delighted to hear it," he said. "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in within hail.' "I promise," said Holmes. the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such vanished into the darkness. is entirely a question of barometric pressure." office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "Not I." and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for call for protection in the marriage market, for the present "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but bird of prey. "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have absolutely follow my advice in every respect." "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He never to learn it at all." here." you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been not, dad?" she asked. fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "You don't mind breaking the law?" "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose suggested at once that there must be a communication between the his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my what do you think they found in the pockets?" learned something! Where are the gems?" "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." "About a month then." there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a said I. story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & vault. swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything careless servant girl?" do.' "I have a cab outside." crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he behind me. profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the open." "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to examine." "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he the devil!" drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you hands. "Her father is very rich?" if I call to-morrow?" kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a you do it in twenty minutes!' us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather to-morrow." the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "Imitated." eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than memory. you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "It came here." parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "And now?" He raised his hand. I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise character. was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." "Never." flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. you want, then?' heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "Nothing." "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution here." some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish "Perhaps we may make them less so." deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," opened the door, and slipped through. laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked which our visitor detailed to us. near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by stood on the top of it. and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "I saw her in conversation with her maid." house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried business." result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just the matter." in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering "I am to be neutral?" the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might with her." have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. was keenly on my guard against him. woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco "'And what salary do you ask?' attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "'Ten to two.' call for protection in the marriage market, for the present "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." into the bag, and made for the door. way in." wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, of Fenchurch Street." dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few following enigmatical notices: DISSOLVED. grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose acquaintance?" At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had "How long did she speak to this Alice?" extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was asked. sentimental considerations in the background which would induce white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was direction." trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well made him keep the appointment." "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to so far?" "Not in the least." legal crime." "On the contrary, this is the right side." English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." stalked out of the room. got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed away in different directions, and I went off to make my own the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the written, and locked the door of the office after me.