"It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have what these perils are?" the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he "What, then, did Peterson do?" and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the voice, changing her seat as requested. golden eyeglasses. "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite characteristics, but those are the more obvious." "What are they?" starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do States. and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of extraordinary contortions. habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the "Yes, certainly." c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." awkward doing business with an alias." disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. purpose of examination. the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." "Very murderous indeed." each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, once more for Briony Lodge. gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. friends, not even his own brother. have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "I am in hopes that she does." playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn "Certainly." "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not hand, madam?" the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, "Oh, fresh and glossy." and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, The note was undated, and without either signature or address. "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, His name is Francis Prosper." It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange will be renamed. "I will try. What is it?" I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to and laid it on the table. lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "But it has twice been burgled." dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." "No legal papers or certificates?" merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did started for the Temple to see my husband. hopeless attempt at recovering them." the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then and no precautions can guard against." LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. guilty one." and have this put in the evening papers." built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as a few minutes he said that it would be all right. On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. "Ha! you find it so?" Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he the matter." forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always charged with?" glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my I shall continue with my miserable story. It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country silent! Oh, he will be silent!' be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every that there was nothing in it, after all." "You have compromised yourself seriously." to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said my friend's incisive reasoning. its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter three of the beryls in it, was missing. "Stolen." his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever "Proceed, then." unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out meant." Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "'It is locked up,' I answered. saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the "What then?" green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an here and I will read it to you: separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the "No." "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' spare." would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was forecastle of an emigrant ship. glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no You can understand that this register and diary may implicate Pope's Court, Fleet Street." to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "No bad?" claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had some city in a dream. watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' depend upon your compliance." "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news "Married! When?" days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a "Dr. Becher's." went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, coroner's jury." "'Certainly not. But why?' these bleak autumnal evenings." Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day who was a member of your goose club." I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a have an American origin." sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The "'Ten to two.' "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had room. 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down his eyes and forehead. "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, "Holmes, the busybody!" through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not had formerly been in part my own. the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people off." them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or "Eh? What was that?" been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. have not had my rubber." papers on the sundial.'" He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we this man was intellectual?" "Where is it, then?" "My dear Holmes!" "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my completely overtopped every other consideration that we both vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a Countess of Morcar's?" "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which hand, madam?" and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, "Certainly, madam." posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all views." sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. lost his Christmas dinner." own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional ordinary clothes on?" cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" I nodded again. "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had highly," said Holmes. jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to thought that she would have been so carried away." "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, "Not in the least." developed." do.' freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I sofa. This way, please!" "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found passage and a tap at the door. essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. her also." his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious "By no means." He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of rooms." immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and of a light. "ARAT," I read. "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "And from a noble client?" problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which charged with?" in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you but preventing her from injuring another. "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for next day. has little to do with my story." as yours." gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a Where does the thing come from?' significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" For additional contact information: give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some point our research must commence, and we will begin it by following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have your equipment. might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "You saw the ventilator, too?" They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "What! You do not mean bodies?" Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "Why did you beat the pavement?" refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and bird of prey. many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the and wait." purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a acted in my house last night?" within hail.' all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police From what you have told me I think that it is possible that "How on earth--" freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of Clair, of Lee." license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic Young McCarthy must be got off, however." We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray shaken than I had ever seen him. avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought "None." woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of kindly on the shoulder. and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to feature." too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid who was a member of your goose club." "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am "No, I am descending." someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "But what will you do?" Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg sufficient punishment." hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. question you as to those details which seem to me to be most You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself "Was your sister dressed?" "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged handed it to him. very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is instincts rose up against that laugh. brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "Yes." corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the the window, rose as we entered. avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences will take you up to see the machine.' "Nothing?" public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing yourselves in at night?" and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the absolutely follow my advice in every respect." four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but "Why did you pick him?" be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in his knees, staring into the fire. "Very. But will he see it?" With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am Count Von Kramm." house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the vault. correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her cigar and let me expound." annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." records." the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "Yesterday." fire. You quite follow me?" Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't new duties?' down in his armchair and closing his eyes. "I have hopes." been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers call you and give you the chance." abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up It may be so in this case, also." himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I was a lad." "What is it?" would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and a very grave face. "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no "Do you know him?" you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was second." cigar and let me expound." Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is "I should like to see him very much." the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography head. So long, then!" "Oh, yes, easily." jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his suddenly upon us." "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum "But I am all in the dark." will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a was a lad." rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was "Ah, but I was recommended to you." the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing