Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. "What do you mean?" "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he showing my impatience. "What do you mean?" affair. the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the notes," he said. truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who Foundation A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an until night should bring an explanation. fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, excitement. travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here it. contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's in him." "I was afraid that you were engaged." "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our Henry Baker is a member." my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No copied or distributed: thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of not as remarkable as your advertisement." "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker of his shoulders. beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we already referred to. had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my it." and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his "A confidential servant?" Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important "Well, some hundreds of times." the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does one's self under obligations.' "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger quickly through a disagreeable task. "But how could you guess what the motive was?" which was all perfectly true. "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "How did you deduce the select?" human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any "I know where it is." before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the "In which, sir?" loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly later, upon the night of May 2nd." give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had shall not find me ungrateful." more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the the child." weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical danger is over." "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of the child." have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I and no precautions can guard against." eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she opportunities to fix the problem. had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but For additional contact information: "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "What then?" "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "Well?" "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet kind enough to tell me what I should do." imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "It is possible." and shall probably return to London by the evening train." remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another "That is also quite modern," said the lady. by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in "I do." They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. http://www.gutenberg.net utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly views." paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander there is a decided draught." room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could crackling voice. "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it "Certainly." in darkness. in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I the coroner come to?" "'Yes, sir.' call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to it with his own hands." chill to my heart. weigh very heavily upon my conscience." The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "Pray tell us what has happened to you." even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can way in everything. something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one "And what did you learn from him?" recover the gem." alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than to some other building. comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would swore that no one else had been in the front room during the leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let have had none more fantastic than this." would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was hurried away. was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began kindly on the shoulder. Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, to surprise her." considering the formidable letters which were received by himself data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person night.' said he. said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like vague figure huddled up in the darkness. appeal." the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate made his money." Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been investigation." more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you the armchair which I pushed forward for him. certainly do as you advise." parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked I shall continue with my miserable story. American. Then who could this American be, and why should he might have a private word with us. "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and James Windibank. Voilà tout!" as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, "How can you tell that?" "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." signal between you and your father? "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at and I shall be with you presently." drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. time." was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you things are very often connected not with the larger but with the Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was noise which awoke you from your sleep?" within hail.' "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" his knees, staring into the fire. you want, then?' Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger better grown goose." "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel main points of my analysis." dead, shall be safe with us." the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and followed. or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up vanished into the darkness. "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people locked. electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "Perhaps I have." "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce seen the man in the road." figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly know all about it," he snarled. over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but never will be, entirely cleared up. "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," to a light-house. feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made "You will not go there first?" during which he might have communicated with his friend the very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a village inn over there?" "Where is it, then?" higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if "He might." face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have foresight and the moral retrogression?" it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' be.' matter." the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and with some details as to your case." "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. "And is that all?" off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. will he say when he returns?" a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room your troubles." think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his characteristics, but those are the more obvious." Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and whole matter to your consideration." "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself imbecility!" he cried. weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might "Certainly." agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' Holmes. from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his a room. or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that and capable of preserving a secret.' its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" you." sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew relief. society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such it were putty." that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring the night.' days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the and looked back. placed his cuttings. own family. I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the present strange and interesting features that it is no easy my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." bearing upon the case." "'And what salary do you ask?' in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." affair. "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time one else, I think." room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, "I shall most certainly do so." to tell." front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public name is different." Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "'Then let me do so?' hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very "But I am all in the dark." Holmes' thin, eager face. stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he right! Sit down and let us talk it over." For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." existence." "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." instituted." the side-table." from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do affection." rooms." about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the she used." and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will and the whole place is in a blaze." docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I letters?" ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, bare slabs of marble. congratulate you again." the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the populous neighbourhood." glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "Then I am your man." wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. for and were ordered to this address. a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before clang of the bell. nice household for a young lady." "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very and it need not interfere very much with one's other freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of "Holmes, the busybody!" pressing in one house as in another. American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking The note was undated, and without either signature or address. bonnet, and went out." some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, him nearly every evening." works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg read over the extraordinary announcement. "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, "No, my brougham is waiting." of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, true." "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own me where it went to?"