"Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." "Then I shall certainly come." know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with such attractions and accomplishments?' Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my "But you can know nothing of this?" "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white a suggestive one." as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, your bag." pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want it. the little opening for the ventilator is." any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be "It may not come to that," said Holmes. foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. one of them." and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you I. "Pray do so." "Yes, the wine-cellar." black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "And from a noble client?" You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair down from London to inquire more deeply into it." Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see "Certainly." door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, was not a bird to be seen there. preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to "Not social, then?" part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow cheerful." agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "No?" which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." people in all walks of life. suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers tied." What do you deduce from it?" landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." goes." was shining brightly. Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable stepfather?" that you can jump it.' into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering "Not in a good cause." ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for enter Dr. Roylott's room." enter Dr. Roylott's room." "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. a suggestive one." "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. conversation I have gathered that they have been married about I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded his huge brown hands. deduce something from that?" and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. unprecedented a position." "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. there!' flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "Stolen." about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the present strange and interesting features that it is no easy all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of "Yes." "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact ways including including checks, online payments and credit card While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot behind me. explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so if only as a check to my own memory." with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. letters?" Holmes' thin, eager face. was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "What I expected to see." the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable "But she could not love him." "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a at my own good fortune. always that they were such commands as a lady might with not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of "Do you go out much in society?" As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send "I cannot as yet see any connection." "'Certainly not. But why?' as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "If so, much may have happened between." "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the works. everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, figure." any." where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father The summons was a brief and urgent one. room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling "Then, how do you know?" is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." business matters.' "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "How long did she speak to this Alice?" consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly the ceiling. hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a any little problem which you may submit to me." "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "Imitated." "Oh, fresh and glossy." "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I if I call to-morrow?" Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and to-night?" I asked. "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed were wasted." he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "Have you it here?" carpenter." The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an "Oh, fresh and glossy." crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the was the fact that his father should, according to his account, round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things row." deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in points in connection with it which never have been, and probably "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "My last client of the sort was a king." Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it will not take me long to tell. problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon looking up at the numbers of the houses." "But you were on a friendly footing?" assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." lips." really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save threw himself down with his face to the pillow. We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" you came in." enough to aid us in our search." no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given "Was he the only applicant?" retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached question. attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite happened." IS Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "I cannot tell." calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." some place of shelter and let the county police know what has part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them Miss Holder?" from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, I held the little printed slip to the light. seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. "By train from Waterloo." fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the feature." "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as "By train from Waterloo." of this gang." with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic are, and they are waiting for us." "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, I approached. ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at character. piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." "Could he throw no light?" "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was figure." to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, companion imperturbably. or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, Eyford at 11:15.' in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' Cross for the Continent." girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "Not him." is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would "And now?" I asked. drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to said he. than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing digesting their breakfasts at home." deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his outbreak?" ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were been." as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and "I say it is." However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" "What!" he roared. had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the bird I ate is country bred." leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side His smile broadened. traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue are windows in it, of course?" "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, "Were they all fastened this morning?" simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or "And leave your case unfinished?" an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The mysterious business." "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into with frightened eyes at his accuser. "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of round and wave him away like that.' It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the himself to hunt down. "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some it with his own hands." "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again better grown goose." "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that train.' few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand "How many? I don't know." "Perfectly so." "Pray be precise as to details," said he. paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "9th. McCauley cleared. "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which business in the City. She little knew what. Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be "Awake, Watson?" he asked. She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. which was all perfectly true. "At half-wages, in fact." "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. lumber-room." be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We points to suicide?" "What of the rat, then?" do.' horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who "Her father is very rich?" and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made bears upon the case?" were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled maid will bring up your coffee." down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left chance at all." the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one lumber-room." "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive started for the Temple to see my husband. simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet fear." "To an end?" clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, matter over." produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is round and wave him away like that.' "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" "And I to find an enemy." listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg strange features which were associated with the two crimes which nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria back into the street. folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah "Now, then, what's the last entry?" an introduction to him?" "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss experiences." The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address "Of what day?" you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. "No?" "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by "There is the writing." problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for