"You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very paper in the air. a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and the window, rose as we entered. first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police in a very precise fashion." "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the spare." of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute this unhappy family?" creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to "By train from Waterloo." last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss certainly not very gracious." particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with you understand?" singular points about the case. What did the police think of the Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed my former friend and companion. the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and again on its way. its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything the inner apartment." rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he stammered. man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor "But what is it you wish?" society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were behind me. Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a even of instruction." his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back next day. "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to point our research must commence, and we will begin it by "What! a murderous attack?" "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the next day. practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under shoulder. master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should go from here to the Strand." "And why in hopes?" cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life waste of energy." should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a bore every mark of being an average commonplace British doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door been." bled considerably." about here speaks of his kindness to him." "No." "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning This is what he says: "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down the address that was given us in the advertisement. "And the cigar-holder?" hour." rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret and it need not interfere very much with one's other "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me "Certainly." streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a "If I can be of use." "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." The King stared at him in amazement. to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another "This concluded the examination of the witness." and a shock of very red hair. of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" "I will do it." "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest fluttered off among the others. "Ten will be early enough." creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "None." transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a of the way of danger. society." envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "What are they?" You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of "Entirely." hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "But who is he?" "What can it mean?" I gasped. appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the been deceived." afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe name is different." wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you or in danger--" for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure followed. It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, correct than the official force." him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of thin legs towards the fire. seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his Project Gutenberg-tm works. paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying outsides of the windows. records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and "I say it is." unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I ill-usage at the hands of fortune. settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a business at Coburg Square is serious." scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." congratulate you again." "VIOLET HUNTER." "Very much so." had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after more terrible than the truth. with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever power." of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. you for a few hours?" "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "Very much so." sake, don't!" in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if of." so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, "I came to find a friend." routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations tension within him. power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This fled together." weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at you in yours." said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very morning." "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to foot. "Was your sister dressed?" Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to not, dad?" she asked. Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." "You heard nothing yourself last night?" matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" something of him before." before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the closing the door. The events in question occurred in the early days of my struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through indiscretion." "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into may never be exposed to such a temptation." "If I can be of use." foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the security.' his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But companion. occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote that you wished to speak to me?' pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." dead, shall be safe with us." shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. to his chemical studies. thirty. "He disappeared so suddenly." the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am is so. I know all about McCarthy." lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I "To the police?" "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" "To an end?" manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long "Do you receive much company?" he asked. Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" conceal it?" had died away into the silence from which it rose. "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be the coroner come to?" bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in I. do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, said Mr. Holder. "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place "Witness: It was. from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has upon the white wrist. been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it "Your presence might be invaluable." year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after in his hands." the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "But I have heard all that you have heard." without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our acquaintance?" "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may sparkled upon his finger. "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, he. me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think murdered man." Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell how narrow had been my escape. is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "Yes." slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in strength." morning." "Then how many are there?" self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it guilty parties." lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "Of what day?" rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which o'clock is it?" "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "I think that it is very probable." "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he enough to aid us in our search." "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was too. directors, with the result that you have seen." both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My bird I ate is country bred." was not a bird to be seen there. the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely for its centre. Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "Perhaps I have." inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: nothing with him." hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have "Yes, sir." "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who prison!" common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, indiscretion." after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so weigh very heavily upon my conscience." The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "And how?" that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' unkempt, staring out at me. future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had "You are all wrong." prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." records." took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my "'Most admirably.' waste of energy." Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his present strange and interesting features that it is no easy William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the name is different." the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it