"I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "I guessed as much." into the room. "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need prepare for the new role I have to play." "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and Munro.' would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear new acquaintance to Baker Street. back into the street. tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her such person." of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. get her out of the way." colonel looking down at me. lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I appointment with me for six o'clock?" "Ha! you find it so?" these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with "But you can know nothing of this?" "Now, then, what's the last entry?" "He disappeared so suddenly." result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. crime." "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? looking up at the numbers of the houses." side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately wedding?" have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You has little to do with my story." called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, official police." "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am Chief Executive and Director all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an never to learn it at all." The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater digesting their breakfasts at home." some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do Again Holmes raved in the air. "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my sneer upon his pale face. danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary beyond words. seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He go back?" so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He been deceived." was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been Miss Holder?" look upon these things in a different way." like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do true." business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps but preventing her from injuring another. closing the door. sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has your co-operation." "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "'Certainly not. But why?' stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; congratulate you again." over with notes and figures. the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, "No, I think that I'll take it." It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His of note-paper. It read in this fashion: we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, "Did your wife hear all this?" national property. I was determined that the law should have its wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement his wife has ceased to love him." "I will, Miss Turner." certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows case before our client came into the room." "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss newspaper selections." not use it unless it is absolutely needed." thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to was it brought him the coronet? anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle were new raised from a basin. geese which you supplied to the Alpha." God! What an exposure! What can I do?" rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in Sutherland. window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to with you?" "What steps will you take?" I asked. "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as I approached. the night.' King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias "What then?" tassel actually lying upon the pillow. of the one which your family is now devouring." to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "And why?" keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the when you have done it." bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the Holmes. villagers almost as much as their master. the dangers which encompass me." jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking business came to an end." corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "'As governess?' to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which the dangers which encompass me." heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." character. he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most followed. "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "How did he come?" nothing with him." "Which are?" London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of strength of mind to control. explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of "Did you observe the colour?" 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" with you?" "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical there." with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." "Upon what point?" at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country The events in question occurred in the early days of my salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip "An accident, I presume?" "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the help us in this matter." papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish You can understand that this register and diary may implicate man. I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never "It must be recovered." male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily outside. side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would strode off upon his way. traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year "Yes, there are nearly always some there." lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were "I am still in the dark." hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "I will do it." not, dad?" she asked. down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you direction." "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, sake, don't!" I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" hand, madam?" purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't not come at once?" "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his "And is that all?" forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick whatever might befall. "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From "It must be recovered." "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the some city in a dream. such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something at my remark. often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that "Witness: It was. "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my cigars in the box." traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I "What will you do, then?" Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing gone. hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming bedroom door." search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean the dangers which encompass me." "Because he was handy and would come cheap." the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must maid will bring up your coffee." garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. this unhappy family?" common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, pressing in one house as in another. which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing sit on the left-hand side of the driver." previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I acted in my house last night?" "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down "And who is her maid?" with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from populous neighbourhood." of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and cigar and let me expound." yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I only touch the interest." Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "And why?" America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and towards the blaze. I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with directly by questioning you." me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but all?" from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and guilty one." "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? digesting their breakfasts at home." considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. she to prove their authenticity?" a little more before I quite committed myself. I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. we went to search for him, face downward in a little the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. stalked out of the room. "So I heard. You have him here?" overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "You will not go there first?" to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. all-comprehensive glances. folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." taking in every detail of the apartment. list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. "Did you observe the colour?" since then to throw any light upon what became of him." lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have tapping his fingers upon the table. body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies "At half-wages, in fact." "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, "'As governess?' "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." "We must sit without light. He would see it through the heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a thirty. in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I answer." so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and "It is very kind of you." pictures, libraries, or plate. "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a begin with, and I had not got mine yet." could gather together that I was able to avert another public "Where, then?" character. "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is eat it." grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "By no means." "I promise," said Holmes. bachelor.' for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "Where, then, is my wife?" inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the "Not particularly." story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" anything to do with the matter?" Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "'Stolen!' he cried. States. bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the was keenly on my guard against him. permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to Eyford." "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be without success. At last the little money which I had saved began "Stoke Moran?" said he. black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "But I am all in the dark." entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly in my life." "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I woven round him. in. pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the had no one to advise her at such a crisis." the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I to Leatherhead. "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he "No, my brougham is waiting."