"'Oh, no, it is in the house.' St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt Pope's Court. about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw thought that she would have been so carried away." course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every "What can you not understand?" "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So thin, with a long, sharp nose?" go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed evidence," I remarked. lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were again before evening." the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the "It surprised me." and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the waste of energy." that I may have something better before very many minutes are fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less had a long day." his eyes and forehead. He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at whereabouts. an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it province." To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very father's young wife. "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for hurried away. had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a "And I to find an enemy." Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "It is very kind of you." round with crates and massive boxes. say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered you do it in twenty minutes!' bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment "Married! When?" "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which "Ha! you find it so?" must be when I saw the door open.' "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not amused." safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming His smile broadened. McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "Whose house is it?" "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old before the coroner and the police-court." "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused "He might." arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "No, thank goodness, she did not." had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that touch that coronet?' in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "It is solved." right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were Farm upon the left." the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the searched, without anything being found which could incriminate January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely since then to throw any light upon what became of him." listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, closely." "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied wedding?" former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian business matters.' himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and page at http://pglaf.org the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual for the market.' "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman shaken than I had ever seen him. was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he best detective that ever lived. so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't corner of the building. status with the IRS. Serpentine Avenue. quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" American. Then who could this American be, and why should he Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official walking." long narrative. does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps business came to an end." enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, ventilator." such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, "And you can do nothing until then?" face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "And why?" the tragedy. With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a their singular warning or token before them when starting upon considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go everything which you would wish to know." minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you of the one which your family is now devouring." emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which "How did he come?" blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small just called myself is not exactly my own." crowd. Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. felt?" "Not social, then?" married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him closing the door. "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same you?" "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings her also." "Imitated." seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack Henry Baker is a member." "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the colonel looking down at me. safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "Yes." tell them apart.' coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one have accepted such a situation. "Then I do not see the point." there has been an enclosure here!" Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "I cannot say that I have." enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a are windows in it, of course?" however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an know all about it," he snarled. up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources during which he might have communicated with his friend the Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and "But of what society?" and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, to take care of herself." beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" like gravel from a pit.' "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! and wait." small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his it right.' which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. Miss Holder?" footfalls from the street. "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and young Openshaw's." someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, Munro.' trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a occurred." the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired ill-usage at the hands of fortune. stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, true." swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a "You will not go there first?" "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that be.' "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the "I guessed as much." Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to "Your presence might be invaluable." the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary place, I think that there is good ground to think that the this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is "What do you mean?" it." When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll "Yes, the wine-cellar." searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he that you wished to speak to me?' homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that derbies." people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the of note-paper. It read in this fashion: opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite his wife has ceased to love him." purpose equally well?" "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual "You have but to name it." the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom "Entirely." you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, be sorry for having acted so harshly." "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." eavesdroppers?' into the room. The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons to tell." my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' village inn over there?" hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would open." about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "Yes." fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the noble correspondent could be. and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the been anything against him. He had for years been known as a however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "How on earth--" place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as was lame." "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or me upon any point which I do not make clear." after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. "Yes." abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This nothing of it?" active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With Countess of Morcar's?" sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "I have come for advice." owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson would then never go into court at all." am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? particular state visit http://pglaf.org appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should know what is wrong with it.' that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "And how did you find out?" "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." just called myself is not exactly my own." bore every mark of being an average commonplace British of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my and all of them with the keenest interest. ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an brain must have something in it." "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? The summons was a brief and urgent one. copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end Farm upon the left." two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we "Yes, he did." not within a twentieth part of the market price." "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you sentimental considerations in the background which would induce was a loud and authoritative tap. "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this strength of mind to control. brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each ceremony." "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes.