Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking province." would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was the warnings." "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of questionable one." His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between golden eyeglasses. is worth.' "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing few hundred pounds.' Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "And did you observe any change in her then?" status with the IRS. in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the made him keep the appointment." during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as "But your client--" "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." this truth that in these little records of our cases which you this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off shadow pass over his face as I spoke. pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation and that he would see to anything that turned up. threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be "Come in!" said he. time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the "'Stolen!' he cried. "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." "Breckinridge is his name." desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "By train from Waterloo." footfalls from the street. followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened "It missed him, then?" which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable we went to search for him, face downward in a little "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly gone. Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. "Do you go out much in society?" my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, 1.F. and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. used to be." harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious held up the lantern and gazed about him. it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which highly," said Holmes. "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs a room. money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the such attractions and accomplishments?' down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite chance at all." "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the should be taken.' sooner or later she must fall a victim. "'Certainly not. But why?' "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a fluttered off among the others. many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down the general public were present, then?" but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain is four-and-twenty." "Imitated." month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the The police have openly confessed that they can at present make "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you stalked out of the room. on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable the coronet at all injured?" like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare come either from the window or the door. My attention was met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both strange features which were associated with the two crimes which latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may happened." call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, It may be so in this case, also." coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than from the brougham. "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." said he, "my real name is James Ryder." you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "I have hopes." "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "None." social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his "'Quite sure, dad.' "You did not overhear what they said?" was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is do.' his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. entirely lost his self-respect." used to be." Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my could go. have got?" banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you wall." at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at where we are going." keep the flames under. ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the and your relations to her." "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "A confidential servant?" "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your it with his own hands." "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon developed." "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor way in." "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had not within a twentieth part of the market price." plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with again on its way. ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business forehead. affair. gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and "But you were on a friendly footing?" "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could bill, which interests me deeply." "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "'Very good.' didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay that you wished to speak to me?' served to weaken the effect. jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I tell me that you intended to go into harness." "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "Yes." silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, shaken than I had ever seen him. practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "Won't it ring?" "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "It must be recovered." inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a key of the affair now." The summons was a brief and urgent one. her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite with frightened eyes at his accuser. "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, dear old homesteads?" "It is very clear." Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "Pray do so." man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to room?" "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. other means.' as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would "Quite so. She has her freedom." "I am in hopes that she does." threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear God! What an exposure! What can I do?" and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. "I think that it is very probable." to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his prepare for the new role I have to play." some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one and a shock of very red hair. "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing signal between you and your father? sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, to where he stood hid behind the curtain. buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come would then never go into court at all." second window is the one that I jumped from." and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. unkempt, staring out at me. "But the mystery?" one which it was hard to resist. make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. as yours." his grey eyes. "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; hurried away. complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my made him keep the appointment." with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "None." "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come "In which, sir?" "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so you give your casting vote to?" and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." ill-usage at the hands of fortune. The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and shall use the carriage to-night." about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. ill-usage at the hands of fortune. very morning of my second wedding." gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, "Ten will be early enough." fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." relief. Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's started for the Temple to see my husband. matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a "A greater distance to travel." send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "Very much so." "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. disturbance in my wife." A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to such attractions and accomplishments?' in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, you found me to-night--and running through the front room she pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. is four-and-twenty." adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you arrested. You then--" "At what time?" answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the most interesting one." few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "You horrify me!" caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so have got?" upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or window when the police appeared." her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort your only hope of safety." but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose not personally threatened." this unhappy family?" snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, flock.' "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done following enigmatical notices: "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left "So I heard. You have him here?" Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." wall." Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." leaning back in his chair. every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which "Witness: I must still refuse. shadow pass over his face as I spoke. reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No,