an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much The note was undated, and without either signature or address. as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "But she could not love him." joking. wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang meant it for the best. said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "I cannot imagine." instincts rose up against that laugh. "Here?" to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during know what is wrong with it.' same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "You have carte blanche." The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that entirely devoid of interest." while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "You have compromised yourself seriously." "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any 11:15.' chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, and it need not interfere very much with one's other Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with over with notes and figures. "He might." present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there all that?" do." "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" "I do." "Awake, Watson?" he asked. Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax happened." mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see I. "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in his face which made him a very different person to the round, and put his glass in his pocket. recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." undoubtedly my uncle's." completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who "He disappeared so suddenly." is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I "At half-wages, in fact." experiences." signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." held up the lantern and gazed about him. a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. to you." neither fascinating nor artistic." We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so "'Entirely.' "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of I shall communicate with you." We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was Dr. Gregory B. Newby piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, any little problem which you may submit to me." I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs "No legal papers or certificates?" wall." these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she But Holmes shook his head gravely. firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his "Entirely." outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming hands. the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in signal between you and your father? Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind "But his left-handedness." hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far daring than any effort of the imagination." way in." pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when not fit the lock." was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no "And how have you succeeded?" invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "And help." successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" touch that coronet?' belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. daring than any effort of the imagination." door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you opened the door, and slipped through. thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were "At the wedding breakfast." good for you to do.' will not take me long to tell. maid will bring up your coffee." shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be "Yes." "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us "Texas, I think." few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see "Married! When?" a little more before I quite committed myself. about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped "And is that all?" dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the and your relations to her." The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons "I say it is." six. Come in!" I approached. to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an burst out into a roar of laughter. eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard it? Did I buy the geese off you?" these bleak autumnal evenings." "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low him nearly every evening." the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." "Were they all fastened this morning?" Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with there has been an enclosure here!" It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried "I beg pardon." observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and "But how did you gain them?" "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper and no precautions can guard against." "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers "10th. John Swain cleared. "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney pressing in one house as in another. have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "Frequently." "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear derbies." "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering Miss Holder?" outside." this remarkable episode. and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be the address that was given us in the advertisement. push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. Stoke Moran." Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding "I came to find a friend." "Quite so." "She will not sell." meant." obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. to have that photograph." Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy him nearly every evening." some water from a caraffe. "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can not interfere, come what may. You understand?" London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very I leave." "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, which our visitor detailed to us. again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know "Yes." to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss test if we have an answer to our advertisement." "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "'Is 4 pounds a week.' Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, "It missed him, then?" and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as the stable lane now." one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "It goes to the housekeeper's room." While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' "But you can know nothing of this?" well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided "When did she vanish, then?" which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, frequently gained my first real insight into the character of silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally "'Where could I find him?' scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of "I am in hopes that she does." union?" "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "It is half-past ten now." "Did he not advertise?" the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "A call for help, you thought?" to-night?" I asked. into the room. such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave "You forget that I know nothing about it." see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. "'And what are they worth?' I asked. particular state visit http://pglaf.org copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon as this. Pray let me have the details." murdered man." "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I 1.F. to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight "Did you observe the colour?" which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence straighten it?" professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I to arrive at through this?" to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. DISSOLVED. fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down "What! You do not mean bodies?" to his chemical studies. on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand "Not I." prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the open." which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "Pray be precise as to details," said he. your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and coroner's jury." empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two my room." "Stoke Moran?" said he. "Why did you beat the pavement?" "Yes?" listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "Yes." had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this himself. "The landlord of the Alpha." follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather hardly wander." Foundation but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was information in his hands the value of which he did not himself lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the "What do you mean?" of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely was shining brightly. "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that south, for the country is more deserted there." down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in "Breckinridge is his name." a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the shoulder. ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the "The best possible." companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your and wait." Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no "A confidential servant?" the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me had formerly been in part my own. than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the Clair, of Lee." of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at was it brought him the coronet? It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might "No." entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable promised to bring home. young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by appeal." object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "No legal papers or certificates?" Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "Dr. Becher's." hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady,