asked. for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after said he. slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I acted in my house last night?" examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right opened a pocket-book and took out a note. know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely said I. need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon thirty. suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way Literary Archive Foundation than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is matter." "Nothing." at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. your equipment. "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 sofa. This way, please!" "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one the coronet in his hands?" "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend "I shall most certainly do so." was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. wife's character?" I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. business matters.' "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." said Mr. Holder. "'And what are they worth?' I asked. ordinary clothes on?" I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "My own seal." destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, fluttered off among the others. "So I heard. You have him here?" we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his I held the little printed slip to the light. DISSOLVED. have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "Yes, certainly." the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of be best to do. slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it the running down." it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must which we had just quitted. steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. "What, then, did Peterson do?" the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. if she died from some sudden fright." and I shall be with you presently." this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you "That is unusual in a young girl." "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have to tell." array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something "That is possible." "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view McCarthy." son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter would apply.' "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote my room." extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "'Quite sure, dad.' "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead out of this horrible affair." thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote the side-table." Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these your most interesting statement." "We have tried and failed." faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an events than those which have happened in my own family." "No." room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows leave you to your papers for a little." then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing "Here?" "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "None." rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I Surrey." brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could had formerly been in part my own. customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, hard-headed British jury." request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over "But to whom?" sit on the left-hand side of the driver." that there was nothing in it, after all." town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that door?" Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "Pray let us have it, for all that." three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and you do it in twenty minutes!' My friend smiled. of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said "And now?" I asked. "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "Not in a good cause." "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms amused." "There are none." But Holmes shook his head gravely. "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into appeal." liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in "Your presence might be invaluable." "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they nothing with him." jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. sentimental considerations in the background which would induce events than those which have happened in my own family." American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the bonnet, and went out." "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after we went to search for him, face downward in a little gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in than was visible to me." "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to vague figure huddled up in the darkness. next day. really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and likely to be some crony of the landlady's." the King without delay." detained." "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and flock.' obstinate." the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "Very truly yours, he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "I have my revolver," said I. "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that "That sounds a little paradoxical." "Perfectly so." finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and closing the door. "It is very kind of you." shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not to-night?' journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one "Thank you. Pray proceed." and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about trying to your nerves." have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the will take you up to see the machine.' "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. redistribution. relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and weapon." the morning and make my own way in the world.' "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. "But you were on a friendly footing?" also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and standing smiling on the door-step. poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." "It may not come to that," said Holmes. "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little there in twenty minutes." "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. away into the river." public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing anything to a woman, for she would have her way." dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very "On Monday." that he will be back before evening." "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to "What are they?" "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet Again Holmes raved in the air. of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself that you saw all that I did." "They are typewritten," I remarked. matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. "Could he throw no light?" This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "Yes." at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they call the police, let the police find what they can.' "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the it." from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "I will get her to show me." conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, "What, then, did Peterson do?" Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." me have 200 pounds?' mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I Doctor, of the paper and the date." cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me What do you deduce from it?" "You don't mind breaking the law?" developed." shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit in. the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did written. kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" to me. "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. fat-encircled eyes. relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door James Windibank. Voilà tout!" meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by beyond words. transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick "Has he come with you to-night?" beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting three fields round his house, and there he would take his utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with individual and becomes the badge of a society." the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn to go into your room and bar your shutters?" without success. At last the little money which I had saved began Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need back to my heart. to that open window." air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was with some details as to your case." Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which your co-operation." to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us "I was sure that I might rely on you." by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "I think it very unlikely." "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness The police have openly confessed that they can at present make coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window Watson," he said cordially. "I have solved it." "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith are, I think, all that we need." 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the Clair, of Lee." against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his Holmes' thin, eager face. recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "Well, some hundreds of times." which it had come upon my father." my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange children over to America with him, so that I found myself without "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." helping a boy to put up the shutters. shoulder; "he's all right." heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a row." lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has the Friday. Was it to be in church?" It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six "By train from Waterloo." again on its way. met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately "I should wish to." "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that "I cannot tell." and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, that he will be back before evening." practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some "What can you not understand?" companion quietly. empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your