"An accident, I presume?" knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled several quiet little villages up there." glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told exactly what you advise." consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them "I cannot think." head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his look dissatisfied." "Which are?" in a very precise fashion." I have it here in my museum." particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with entirely lost his self-respect." "He is still with you, I presume?" returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to "That is it on the dressing-table." am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. empty. silent! Oh, he will be silent!' see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is the stones. went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." horse could go." "That is easily got." which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, character. into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "But how?" 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." directly by questioning you." Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and "It surprised me." to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, passage and a tap at the door. there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. was already answered. look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by of this gang." "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such "Pray do so." subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And third from London." "You have the photograph?" for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." "My dear Holmes!" all that?" Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell "Yes, all." 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth you." is worth.' of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this garden below. looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all 'I should be able to look after that for you.' things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others attention." hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "Precisely so. But how--" them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he "To an English lawyer named Norton." *** START: FULL LICENSE *** "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, round and wave him away like that.' and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He "It is no ordinary one." papers diligently of late, have you not?" "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty "Well, but China?" three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently "And how did you find out?" crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; prisoner's face. lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had "She walked into the breakfast-room." all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly "He disappeared so suddenly." "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my have got?" doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had his grey eyes. He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my which we had just quitted. Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. "And how have you succeeded?" 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. "One horse?" interjected Holmes. in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a relief. matters immensely." observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the "Nothing?" voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he "Just look it up, then." Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is "'And the work?' "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the matter." the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his correct than the official force." "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in that he has suffered." "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less call you and give you the chance." "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off see me here to avoid scandal." the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement threw himself down with his face to the pillow. while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. Dr. Gregory B. Newby "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "And it is--" her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we to-night." himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. "'And what salary do you ask?' labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. "But how could you guess what the motive was?" he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever bled considerably." and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "It came here." method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms front of me. ways of our fellow-men." bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in "Witness: I must still refuse. were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would someone who had been in Australia." answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are obstinate." walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any "Texas, I think." "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there orange pips. Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily such attractions and accomplishments?' "'I have heard so.' "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "So it appears." that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all "My dear Holmes!" "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I your co-operation." open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was certainly do as you advise." "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as enter Dr. Roylott's room." "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as you for a few hours?" Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a open." she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight it right.' "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very "Then the page we have seen--" in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms Serpentine Avenue. daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "Yes, from Horsham." the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of "'How far from the body?' have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "'I am sure that I do not know.' "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long electronic works determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "But your client--" "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "Then I am your man." with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination we went to search for him, face downward in a little he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her closing the door. which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and "Yes, but only for you and me." his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of of fine shops and stately business premises that they really "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his tell him that I know him to be innocent." "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their is acting for the best. more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The important." he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the enough to aid us in our search." have been better. It is all right." on in his house." abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running on re-entering her father's house?" knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in "That's no good." for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has "Come in!" said he. astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the business?" They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and pictures, libraries, or plate. the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You which we had just quitted. fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should lids now and glanced across at his visitor. story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" You want to know what became of those geese?" "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and tell me that you intended to go into harness." sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. second window is the one that I jumped from." houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "Thank you. Pray proceed." Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to mystery may be cleared along those lines." opportunities to fix the problem. his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid "It is no ordinary one." "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his think that he is innocent?" even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance side. narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with "I cannot as yet see any connection." stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to official police." there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the coroner's jury." with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, "I have a cab outside." classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "That was it, sir." "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in "It was a confession," I ejaculated. "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "But she will refuse." "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to front of the hall door has given its name to the place. wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached too. and wait." "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting "You think that he is dead?" "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has "I cannot tell." what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a photograph?" and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the business matters.' incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He cigars in their mouths. the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for in his hands." great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has "One of the highest in England." "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "It is half-past ten now." was used.' "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." bed dies. Does not that strike you?" with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, public press." "How did you trace it, then?" them present such singular features as the strange train of foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De