this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored memory. means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her During two years I have had three consultations and one small unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he fact, we may call it conclusive." with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. ill-usage at the hands of fortune. *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would written, and locked the door of the office after me. unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly that he has suffered." Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "Murdered?" them?" wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the Pope's Court, Fleet Street." and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall is a common subject for conversation. "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little for securing the situation." fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw go--none." though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his This is what he says: over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction Serpentine Avenue. six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! Leadenhall Street--and--" know all about it," he snarled. "But we can't all be." kindly on the shoulder. The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work had no one to advise her at such a crisis." ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a I was concerned in it." paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' away into the river." "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out your room." been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. any little problem which you may submit to me." his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the this Miss Turner." A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. in his power. sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his might help us?" "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. keep the flames under. "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was emerged. There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know brandy and water within his reach. blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very morning." "No sign of it?" have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, appeal." Pope's Court. "Really! You surprise me." "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, "It missed him, then?" formed some opinion?" "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at tear off another piece?' Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so morning." material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get were new raised from a basin. alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future pity, because in other respects you would really have done very was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in of this gang." had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, redistribution. "Did he not advertise?" "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance the very letters. But what is this written above them?' of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. "What is it, then--a fire?" his cane at the bell-pull. upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "'I have heard so.' He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through in the port of London." "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, disappearance of these gems?" bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just the Assizes." left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "What steps will you take?" I asked. very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is a little more before I quite committed myself. Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of "If I can be of use." "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but corner of the building. We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered rooms." manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long "'Stolen!' he cried. agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, "'I shall certainly be there.' delighted to hear it," he said. beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "Yes." conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain anything to a woman, for she would have her way." he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who "I beg pardon." compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note points to suicide?" death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' daring than any effort of the imagination." words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential six. Come in!" The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing crime. my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their go--none." "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how correct than the official force." Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous that he will be back before evening." pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort "But not more so than I to find you." recall any case within my experience which looked at the first it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up particular state visit http://pglaf.org "I do." brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round direction." desk. call the police, let the police find what they can.' "He said too much." this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." any." in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done "Breckinridge is his name." "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with "What will you do, then?" "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in outsides of the windows. companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander You want to know what became of those geese?" "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and spark where all is dark to me." "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. "My opinion is in no way altered." was already answered. Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the to his chemical studies. was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you voice. "It goes to the housekeeper's room." Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification in the port of London." ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be weigh very heavily upon my conscience." base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you directors have had misgivings upon the subject." myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his the dangers which encompass me." eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of sooner or later she must fall a victim. written, and locked the door of the office after me. weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has never to learn it at all." Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his "I think that I had better go, Holmes." tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "It is possible." case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we he bowed and left the room without another word. from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the from the brougham. a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. acquaintance?" at once, for I have only half an hour." bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut outside. unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' breakfast." He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The up this clue while it is still hot." "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side direction." "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged events than those which have happened in my own family." above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let "Imitated." go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur pity, because in other respects you would really have done very brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had "I cannot as yet see any connection." "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My and the colonel ushered me in. compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her "'Certainly,' I answered. rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with trying to your nerves." "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun Leadenhall Street--and--" "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two be. "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can just called myself is not exactly my own." every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a "And the cigar-holder?" hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, "To the police?" "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom true." forebodings. McCarthy's innocence. Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a "I am armed." "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew my secret was safe in his possession. woman who has had her own way to make in the world. room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk evidence," I remarked. certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan "But you would not advise me to refuse?" "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is "What, then, did Peterson do?" some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were Pope's Court, Fleet Street." no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. strength in the others." "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me leave you to your papers for a little." foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and events than those which have happened in my own family." him nearly every evening." before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' goes." as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you "In what way?" asked Holmes. and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," Literary Archive Foundation "Yes." to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses papers." did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "'I am sure if I had known--' that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. "I answered that I had not. glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then since then to throw any light upon what became of him." submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" father's place of business?" London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the case before our client came into the room."