misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little into the room. this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a which should have the effect of calling the attention of the he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed this unhappy family?" every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. "And you don't know his address?" remarked. all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "Quite so. She has her freedom." Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of triumphant cloud from his cigarette. not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "'Quite sure, dad.' pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, "You know me, then?" "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure lectures into a series of tales." you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it "Very truly yours, perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming call it cruel." hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate bore every mark of being an average commonplace British your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the astonishment. "Frequently." away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in carpenter." filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to my friend's incisive reasoning. "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about never will be, entirely cleared up. certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "It came here." time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. at home. "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "What can you not understand?" my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way cost them two and thirty pounds." me. You must get home instantly and act." http://www.gutenberg.net whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "Stolen." belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had "Is he quiet?" the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from wanted for ourselves." "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is handed it to him. table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other happened." and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "What, then, did Peterson do?" had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of murdered man." she used." opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, way in." rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She lamp. is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further rat could hardly pass through." round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain once more to my work. really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue his huge brown hands. your sleep?' touch that coronet?' against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. gone before you can get him to hospital." brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's "You were travelling in the States?" have been better. It is all right." the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point nice household for a young lady." "10th. John Swain cleared. "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; outsides of the windows. observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it tassel actually lying upon the pillow. He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, "'There is a drive, then?' was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir in my life." fish-monger and a tide-waiter." in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." galvanised. train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. "Never." people in all walks of life. after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "I will try. What is it?" the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too went to the Alpha were town bred." downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an that I can to serve you." he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a deduce something from that?" also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the Doctor, of the paper and the date." absolutely follow my advice in every respect." of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered "You have compromised yourself seriously." the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my 11:15.' "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting during which he might have communicated with his friend the thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. infinite languor in his face. of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "BALLARAT." ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. "And you can do nothing until then?" before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. mysterious end." knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a 1.F. him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "'Oh, no.' wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences the iron safe, which he closed upon it. enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "If so, much may have happened between." "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a guilty one." for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding other, as fresh and trim as possible. evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you point in the dark hollow of his hand. begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to was already answered. remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "By no means." difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very conceal it?" speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion bill, which interests me deeply." with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive about here speaks of his kindness to him." filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez there when the Rucastles went away." the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish status with the IRS. She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a "'I shall certainly be there.' "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be noting anything else of interest. and no precautions can guard against." "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "Yes, but only for you and me." accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better "If so, much may have happened between." common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. if I call to-morrow?" "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was "'There is a drive, then?' "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "Yes." "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say must be when I saw the door open.' words came to my lips. "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could From what you have told me I think that it is possible that appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "I am sure." and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the question," said Holmes, smiling. "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "'What, the red-headed man?' utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' "One of the highest in England." my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." newspaper selections." "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by I think that I could be of assistance to you." "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that "At half-wages, in fact." a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that the stones. hardly wander." treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name business?" time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to upon an income of about 60 pounds." part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a "But his lameness?" her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "Precisely." Young McCarthy must be got off, however." even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. It may be so in this case, also." hand, madam?" prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is ventilator." any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. "About a month then." touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in paper in the air. simple cases which are so extremely difficult." very morning of my second wedding." We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a waste of energy." use an arc-and-compass breastpin." adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may was lame." whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. disappearance of the bride.'" permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for impression behind it as though a window had gently closed treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go "To an end?" now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted and all of them with the keenest interest. this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an people in all walks of life. anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when returned to France?" present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it it. "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to other means.' may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "Which are?" straightened it out again. explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They paper in the air. over his head with a sweet womanly caress. doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup cause to be." fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram present." the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." which are rolled in Rotterdam." glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife and wait." electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these mystery!" you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very cup of tea. I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his crowd. observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his works. See paragraph 1.E below. whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "Why did you beat the pavement?" has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them there." "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the