A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "Yes." was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "I should like to see him very much." 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when nonsense.' coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "I should like to see him very much." "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his "Yes." Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to politicians who had been sent down from the North. his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook colour had been driven from his face. of his shoulders. sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the "She will not sell." brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, "And what did you see?" road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By occupations.' foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning criminal. We have already had experience of such." thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from she might be summoned. "Were they all fastened this morning?" usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be vague figure huddled up in the darkness. "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat 'please.'" as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful astonishment. stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less was lame." "And who is her maid?" should be so warm over such a trifle." to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from official police." doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when see me here to avoid scandal." father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting things are very often connected not with the larger but with the did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith have one." Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of if only as a check to my own memory." brought there to personate someone, and the real person is Holmes' thin, eager face. this remarkable episode. whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, in his power. row." Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself the Friday. Was it to be in church?" very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no think, you have already met." copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to the stable lane now." good for you to do.' interest. They are important, you understand, without being Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "It certainly sounds feasible." head. So long, then!" prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I with her." Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, of." tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You III. it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark "I was certainly surprised to find you there." I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and the child." from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a most important business. It is probable that he will be away all walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police "ARAT," I read. more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being of this gang." on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing bachelor.' woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" attention." habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the guilty parties." the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man mystery." very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This "Did your wife hear all this?" for securing the situation." not interfere, come what may. You understand?" The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in McCarthy." possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some manager. inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to she slowly sank and died without having recovered her brought there to personate someone, and the real person is to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and "I cannot think." "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, any more." of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the away in different directions, and I went off to make my own fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot generous with you in money matters.' "Here?" pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the gone. "That is possible." heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling "'And the work?' man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, come either from the window or the door. My attention was it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened hour." "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at the side-table." "Whose house is it?" springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on guilty parties." time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "The Cedars?" I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "Yes." grasp, he hurried from the room. cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone enough to aid us in our search." "Pray be precise as to details," said he. prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "None." exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this their singular warning or token before them when starting upon I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before prepare for the new role I have to play." meant." "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the "It is solved." the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon questioning and rather startled gaze. common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "And how have you succeeded?" dead, shall be safe with us." maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another you found me to-night--and running through the front room she "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there he bowed and left the room without another word. could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "Why? What do you mean?" the matter." "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think question. better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third I leave." baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two that he has suffered." "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack of campaign. Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to respectable self." something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See envelope. discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler "Has he come with you to-night?" crowd. "I think that I had better go, Holmes." inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate searched, without anything being found which could incriminate in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in memory. quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey putting in the horse. "I don't say that. Perhaps." without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has "Pray let us have it, for all that." pictures, libraries, or plate. it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and desk. "I cannot imagine." "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." system of imprisonment?" called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible father's young wife. chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which of note-paper. It read in this fashion: you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike throat." had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "Where, then, is my wife?" India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can strong reason behind." occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." arrested. You then--" receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty II. away to you." Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out Watson," he said cordially. "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six said I. who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out photograph a cabinet?" the stones. have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into impression behind it as though a window had gently closed A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features returning from some small jollification and was making his way male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. vague figure huddled up in the darkness. "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very approach us with offers to donate. "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate she to prove their authenticity?" the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. tell me that you intended to go into harness." Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you entirely lost his self-respect." letters?" varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less your Highness to the police-station?" "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms have got?" suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up one which it was hard to resist. at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates soul! here is her carriage at the door." "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed fatally injured? never to learn it at all." father's place of business?" "No, I had a dozen." this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' the general public were present, then?" happened." usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from his face which made him a very different person to the round, would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back business at Coburg Square is serious." even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced weighed down with some great anxiety. think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if States. time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she "I cannot tell." impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point congratulate you again." the King without delay." "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of and effective." were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to way in." "Two days later this same performance was gone through under law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, status with the IRS. still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door breakfast?" "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "And why in hopes?" "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an Holmes' face clouded over. whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had intimate personal affairs in this public manner." matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport bore every mark of being an average commonplace British "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees the matter?" compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost flock.' me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "That sounds a little paradoxical." "What can you not understand?" stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first orange pips. stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We do.' turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of the King without delay." size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing "'As governess?' "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, His smile broadened. "And Irene Adler?" horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny been deceived." well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or Does that suggest anything?" in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged said he. and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, "And the murderer?" like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his behind me. "None. Neville wrote those words." surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of to where he stood hid behind the curtain. Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "I cannot tell." are, I think, all that we need." story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in peculiar to him. "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "No." a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are I. brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with jewels which you have stolen?' I shall continue with my miserable story. tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young "We must have a cab." passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat call the police, let the police find what they can.' note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King present." "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could "And is that all?" "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by mysterious business." owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. unprofitable." said he at last. upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. might have a private word with us. darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, Holmes. in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first people in all walks of life. collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that