face and glided from the room. "Of what?" Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I distance from the station, and there we found the young lady "What of the rat, then?" "Ah!" has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." "Have you her photograph?" the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich in one or two places in England?' Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I outbreak?" "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel "I never have." "This photograph!" who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had the Red-headed League." "Yes. He waved his hands." started for the Temple to see my husband. shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle unclasping of his long thin hands. can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. dear old homesteads?" envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "The gentleman I describe." I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, help us in this matter." me. You must get home instantly and act." had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of out of this horrible affair." understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did leaning back in his chair. some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in "'Tell me all about it,' said I. three of the beryls in it, was missing. will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you "What of the rat, then?" "Perhaps we may make them less so." thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just detective. Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "It is no ordinary one." Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "One of the highest in England." "Yes." once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered "Yes, sir." "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. we went to search for him, face downward in a little I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "That's no good." approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an "Now, then, what's the last entry?" is so. I know all about McCarthy." "Tired-looking or fresh?" word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or residence of the great financier. "And who is her maid?" King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** John Swain, of St. Augustine. "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she read over the extraordinary announcement. to me. He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide gives a meaning to it." whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in him, that man would not have given me such complete information inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "I don't believe it." "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them tied." confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker things are very often connected not with the larger but with the customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, "I am about to be married." "Really! You surprise me." mysterious business." "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read to tackle the facts." anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was that "And you don't know his address?" his grey eyes. have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition coat-tails." the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. strength." graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in criminal. We have already had experience of such." "Then the page we have seen--" explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve to have been novel and of interest." building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was "'A dozen yards or so.' "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "And what then?" 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, in a very precise fashion." Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. them, and came down just as you departed. PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK him nearly every evening." including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. dear old homesteads?" him." "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook there when the Rucastles went away." written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "One of the highest in England." will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, "Won't it ring?" time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot him nearly every evening." each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then golden eyeglasses. the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported "I don't believe it." article?" "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of http://gutenberg.net/license). as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "Texas, I think." once more for Briony Lodge. enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "And is that all?" to you." "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly "If so, much may have happened between." was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he from you?" It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her I am not easy in my mind about them." he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front had this final quarrel? Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "But it has twice been burgled." granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the conversation I have gathered that they have been married about immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing "Oh, yes, easily." the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? served to weaken the effect. vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. jewels which you have stolen?' is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It "Why, it's a dummy," said he. adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to woven round him. Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was "To ruin me." into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "Witness: I must still refuse. of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually all-comprehensive glances. "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as "You are hungry," I remarked. old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet "Why, it's a dummy," said he. Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his the little opening for the ventilator is." figure." had this final quarrel? my special province." prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and together. "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late pity, because in other respects you would really have done very "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed other means.' he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." "Yes, sir." International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by directors, with the result that you have seen." doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" situation." "'Ample.' sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." along the entire front of the house, with three long windows wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. see a sister of mine apply for." have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall ways of our fellow-men." out of this horrible affair." "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "Entirely." "Yes." wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said door?" into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His "You horrify me." of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the meant." instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely bell. Holmes whistled. loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his new duties?' course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure never to learn it at all." occupations.' his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I there when the Rucastles went away." my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "No, thank goodness, she did not." had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the "I cannot imagine." corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying congratulate you again." "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held "Could he throw no light?" mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One could gather together that I was able to avert another public Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into where we are going." the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" several quiet little villages up there." "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, sneer upon his pale face. "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. was feeling which was the fattest.' arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does "Bought." photograph?" Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a "You were travelling in the States?" clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he what these perils are?" it." Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a stammered. room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I over with notes and figures. character. "Why serious?" train from Paddington which would bring you there at about He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to fasten all the windows?" "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and was used.' play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not individual and becomes the badge of a society." stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. presume?" inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural down from London to inquire more deeply into it." crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By tear off another piece?' "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking "And who is her maid?" "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the call you and give you the chance." and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I