fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. prison!" late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, that, and I came down." "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face extraordinary contortions. soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter make me his representative both with the servants and with the acquaintance?" instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel things are very often connected not with the larger but with the hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. on in his house." should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must fasten all the windows?" young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His bird of prey. if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." companion imperturbably. could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "And why in hopes?" daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he was already answered. which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward as the one I chose?' handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even Chief Executive and Director you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "And that is--" whether it answered to the description of any of their is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the least a fellow-countryman. "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would was it brought him the coronet? which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful politicians who had been sent down from the North. that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. the general public were present, then?" in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" purpose equally well?" Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his place, I think that there is good ground to think that the prison!" valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, "Pray tell us what has happened to you." shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from of." of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug pressing in one house as in another. back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I enough to aid us in our search." my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face wedding?" case-book, which he consulted. "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "To an English lawyer named Norton." to where he stood hid behind the curtain. strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice maid will bring up your coffee." still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant "'I shall certainly be there.' ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. said he. a few minutes he said that it would be all right. while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. generous with you in money matters.' corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged photograph?" sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the train from Paddington which would bring you there at about pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently threw himself down with his face to the pillow. livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "Look there!" said he. clang of the bell. "Then I do not see the point." was used.' Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He "Imitated." to tell." mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout it." "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "His face fell immediately. "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an very morning of my second wedding." "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of derbies." filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole bird of prey. "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one handed it to him. of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to way in." "Can I be of assistance?" enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far Leave Paddington by the 11:15." logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary any." "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "Where, then, is my wife?" either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I little trying to do so much typewriting?" year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. what these perils are?" after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I searched, without anything being found which could incriminate The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an Have you good authority for what you say?" Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name might help us?" doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He the station." regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and all?" stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. never to learn it at all." engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, "My last client of the sort was a king." police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have nonsense.' American. Then who could this American be, and why should he "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "But we can't all be." saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously fasten all the windows?" "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "Stolen." quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt of note-paper. It read in this fashion: going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a "You will not go there first?" the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your bird of prey. case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. matter over." broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much bled considerably." never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every next day. two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. the side-table." unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she Count Von Kramm." "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the burst out into a roar of laughter. "He disappeared so suddenly." "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that "You have but to name it." Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of outside." "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "But how?" "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an "'Then let me do so?' "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone guilty parties." "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and you?" there were so many in the whole country as were brought together the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "One?" side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "Of Friday, June 19th." it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, my little problems." it." "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. "My opinion is in no way altered." ran thus: have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud back alive. evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may the matter?" "You horrify me." his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. "Not I." absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and outside." "Ah, but I was recommended to you." particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "Certainly, madam." "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. lamp. "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from in the port of London." "What steps will you take?" I asked. "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." drawing your inferences." while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "None." accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." returned to France?" more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning spare." keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I one else, I think." there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but "Yesterday." long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous exactly what you advise." must compliment you." my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and one of them." confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "To an end?" address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue ventilator." "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and father's place of business?" begun to whiten, even as mine has." there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady several quiet little villages up there." American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was to change my dress. bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for residence of the great financier. laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and was used.' characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set sentimental considerations in the background which would induce though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a possible that we could bring him back to her? hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of What do you deduce from it?" gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my "I am all attention, madam." with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a gentleman's clothes. considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up "'Is purely nominal.' were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the shoulder; "he's all right." the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A and shall probably return to London by the evening train." What do you deduce from it?" "Was she in good spirits?" the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The "It must be recovered." daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of I held the little printed slip to the light. together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so nothing of it?" Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a