then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, ago." "Oh, fresh and glossy." and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us his face. accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." Heh?' "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the may never be exposed to such a temptation." should be so warm over such a trifle." were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine a monotonous occupation." lips." that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never disappearance of the bride.'" and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to "How are you getting on?" walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and subject to the trademark license, especially commercial ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as have not had my rubber." to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I if she died from some sudden fright." "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had "'Yes, sir.' my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where "Has he come with you to-night?" engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out "I think it very unlikely." Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the when your master had gone out." smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall "May I see it?" and wait." upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that politicians who had been sent down from the North. out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the noise which awoke you from your sleep?" "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and copied or distributed: "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the crackling voice. undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If the date of his supposed suicide." rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who such person." glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up For additional contact information: "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's when you have done it." this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face in one or two places in England?' have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a populous neighbourhood." lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon again." say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With and files of the old papers, following the future career of every homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "No, distinctly professional." is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was politicians who had been sent down from the North. delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. "May I see it?" only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with me what he had done with the three missing stones. quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my "I am following you closely," I answered. furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. Street. him to be an active member of the medical profession." - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "Yes." "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "Indeed! Whose, then?" "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so asked. presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the room. "But you would not advise me to refuse?" of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "My private note-paper." consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "A thing like a cleaver," said he. would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project it." have been better. It is all right." who was a member of your goose club." "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too at my remark. fatally injured? From what you have told me I think that it is possible that the very morning of the wedding." from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. nothing with him." "Well." that he has suffered." "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. useful material for showing traces. The double line a little means taking possession of that which another person has a prior "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already "And how did he make his money?" suspect him." now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of "He said too much." The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" to-night's adventure." to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of in his hands." "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the Sholtos." bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my "No legal papers or certificates?" works. "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. neither fascinating nor artistic." either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to heavily into it. bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before "By no means." a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "How did he come?" until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable "'Certainly not.' "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For may have an influence upon European history." creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project again on its way. "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it good for you to do.' be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the down. typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his From what you have told me I think that it is possible that already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I the inner apartment." lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and in darkness. and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he asked with his eyes open. gone before you can get him to hospital." therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a posted to-day." "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings present." been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "Eh? What was that?" knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little call for protection in the marriage market, for the present beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" sneer upon his pale face. remarked. "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to some mystery and the punishment of some crime." and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" awkward doing business with an alias." They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself his forehead." I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second could gather together that I was able to avert another public calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and American. Then who could this American be, and why should he before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would gone. train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" make me his representative both with the servants and with the reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "I am about to be married." swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him records." Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was now. It seems that there had been some informality about their but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had said I. end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, better in every way that they should make their position a little "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said learned something! Where are the gems?" "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a about here speaks of his kindness to him." states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just "No. What a strange idea!" cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest suddenly upon us." strong and stiff." http://www.gutenberg.net Farm upon the left." "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their "Then he might have called to you?" a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on seven miles from Eyford Station.' that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace strength of mind to control. the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." several quiet little villages up there." would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime before, for it was considerably after midnight. and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "It goes to the housekeeper's room." therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving chance at all." with you alone." The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will "Why did you pick him?" buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and works. There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "It is possible." "What, then?" "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You you give your casting vote to?" considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no London for the present?" thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I served to weaken the effect. need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great into the bag, and made for the door. and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." imbecility!" he cried. "What are they?" master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell Holmes rather sternly. cigars in the box." "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to "What shall I do?" I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a "I see many objections to any such theory." see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear be there in time for your coming." placed his cuttings. unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a politicians who had been sent down from the North. Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions "And I say east," said my patient. address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have dead, shall be safe with us." gone before you can get him to hospital." "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and DAMAGE. My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, fasten all the windows?" refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and his face which made him a very different person to the round, counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and for its centre. "What, then, did Peterson do?" disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was "Have you her photograph?" the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite had picked up in the wood. 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "It is to him that this trophy belongs." is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. happened." Pope's Court. and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. do.' tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact companion. both be extremely obliged.' am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the tassel actually lying upon the pillow. weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of "'Which dealer's?' of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for