chair. the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a very peculiar words of the dying woman?" the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "'And what are they worth?' I asked. "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he fait accompli?" voice. Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some "You are all wrong." A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a in his hands." "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but drove away. may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her least a fellow-countryman. "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "Ah!" c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the "You don't mind breaking the law?" "'I am sure if I had known--' Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, children over to America with him, so that I found myself without beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own "That is unusual in a young girl." through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid better grown goose." place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking was a lad." much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission the coronet in his hand?" "But not more so than I to find you." prisoner's face. practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished The note was undated, and without either signature or address. settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "Tired-looking or fresh?" "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me "I shall be delighted." meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "Pray do so." America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had of Fenchurch Street." to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in country, and eventually married, without anyone having a Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being gone. the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was affection." The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to I nodded to show that I had heard. and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching the best of training." and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of IS abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his Sutherland. "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of heavily into it. so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous I approached. stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning to some other building. his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' characteristics, but those are the more obvious." were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." any little problem which you may submit to me." peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my ill-usage at the hands of fortune. carriage. It was a chestnut." of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I begun to whiten, even as mine has." moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in foresight and the moral retrogression?" without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have "I am armed." her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he the tragedy. all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. "'Yes, I promise.' hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a shoulder. their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the success. been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. there when the Rucastles went away." came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of "In answer to an advertisement." has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and your billet.' With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. sparkled upon his finger. explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could skylight. outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet she has been waylaid. There has been no result." rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I look dissatisfied." information in his hands the value of which he did not himself "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap place no limit on the sum I may draw." "Of what?" photograph?" looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. you, my dear young lady?' A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. "I have a cab outside." business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third forbidden door. particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are it? Did I buy the geese off you?" located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from himself. "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "You will not go there first?" consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' for the market.' "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was since then to throw any light upon what became of him." wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to "A greater distance to travel." "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case opened a pocket-book and took out a note. weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted time." "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first morning." police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" green of the new foliage. "Eh? What was that?" where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me his grey eyes. glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal "What is it?" "Upon what point?" prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My thought that she would have been so carried away." week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to "You are certainly joking, Holmes." have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, searched, without anything being found which could incriminate "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a which we had just quitted. "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying me where it went to?" bedroom door." part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more I leave." in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. "ARAT," I read. skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been "And how in the world did you find them?" provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "Oh, the cause is excellent!" a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your useful material for showing traces. The double line a little Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you his huge brown hands. and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross "I was mad--insane." International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "'Never,' said I. keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. there in twenty minutes." my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before best detective that ever lived. months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "My own seal." strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his not come at once?" how narrow had been my escape. this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" his huge brown hands. child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City locked. On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. the Assizes." had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will strength of mind to control. more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "Which surely he restored to their owner?" I have it here in my museum." an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "Yes, from Horsham." "Well, it is a possible supposition." up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and or in danger--" "BALLARAT." myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few outbreak?" Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and chance." "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up have I gained?" least a fellow-countryman. adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a "You horrify me!" "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. conversation I have gathered that they have been married about that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. deduce something from that?" galvanised. through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free had this final quarrel? dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His occurred." "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small begin with, and I had not got mine yet." "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been some mystery and the punishment of some crime." here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "How did he come?" Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," "I have seen the police." whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of of Fenchurch Street." really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very "That is it on the dressing-table." swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again vault. "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "But what will you do?" "Certainly, madam." forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a some terrible trap for her." Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the this remarkable episode. already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a advice." instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is copied or distributed: called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his the inner apartment." "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "Then what has happened to him?" Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" "I have come for advice." Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as Watson," he said cordially. Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after simple cases which are so extremely difficult." When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes miles off. his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his The note was undated, and without either signature or address. "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during such person." Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss use an arc-and-compass breastpin." gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" seen the man in the road." was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off felt the room to be a little close.' the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing