"Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To looking up at the numbers of the houses." dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which to surprise her." me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little Holmes' face clouded over. The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more swore that no one else had been in the front room during the "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to outbreak?" "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing "Well?" "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell "It is his hat." dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress "So I am. Very much so." "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang not within a twentieth part of the market price." battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this the morning and make my own way in the world.' his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with crowd. "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the "I cannot say that I have." that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. "How did you trace it, then?" of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing should be taken.' machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. with you alone." "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "Awake, Watson?" he asked. "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then "Bought." investigation." the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my formed some opinion?" borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; "And why?" than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then point in the dark hollow of his hand. when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I I. stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, opportunities to fix the problem. certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a morning." "No legal papers or certificates?" Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he detained." a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off garden below. "I should wish to." before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the is worth.' have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and "It goes to the housekeeper's room." Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, "If so, much may have happened between." "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, fact, we may call it conclusive." I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most Sutherland?" vanished into the darkness. that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. congratulate you again." "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and You want to know what became of those geese?" me. You must get home instantly and act." corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, strode off upon his way. age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the writing, and yet I know it well." "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple jewels which you have stolen?' himself to hunt down. the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a "I cannot say that I have." morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was was used.' so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen morning." *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the yet." "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a "Never to return." the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "'Yes, I promise.' "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient situation." "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. appeal." "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming "Quite so." have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question appointment with me for six o'clock?" the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at any more." had a long day." touch that coronet?' "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming how narrow had been my escape. fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was heavily into it. absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases been anything against him. He had for years been known as a to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be ourselves in the office." "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, "What can you not understand?" connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he at home. after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. or other trace. But how on earth--" promised to bring home. Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of back to my heart. silent! Oh, he will be silent!' There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's way in." result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I happened." silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "Whose house is it?" "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who look dissatisfied." all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the indeed which he could not unravel. chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "She told me to ask you." red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" "The rest you will leave in our hands." address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to man. I know him from the photograph." and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I "'You doubt its value?' he asked. profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring your billet.' France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not "Pray do so." night.' said he. "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it examine." it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "His face fell immediately. Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a lumber-room." his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for shoulder. drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, felt?" "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and tied." of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in strength of mind to control. side. difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the questionable one." new duties?' possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some "Ha! you find it so?" "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a I held the little printed slip to the light. passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "I have seen the police." was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of furiously. "Nothing." "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these It was close upon four before the door opened, and a value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not "On the contrary, this is the right side." without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a 1.F. day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were key of the affair now." whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom Watson," he said cordially. lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled miles off. you give your casting vote to?" "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very everything which you would wish to know." his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have have got?" the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening always that they were such commands as a lady might with with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own For additional contact information: Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with shaken than I had ever seen him. "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some morning." Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I became a certainty. he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I "I am sure." until night should bring an explanation. some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. said he. "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a fattened it expressly for you.' there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; "What steps will you take?" I asked. down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not the bottom.' him to be an active member of the medical profession." with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who the south-west, I see." would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I "Was your sister dressed?" you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And "Pray tell us what has happened to you." "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall "Where to?" "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan tell me that you intended to go into harness." "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "Why serious?" look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the cause to be." engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian cigars in the box." other, as fresh and trim as possible. is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "Not in the least." "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of and the church but not where the lady lived." which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the opened the door, and slipped through. hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all had a long day." brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "My own seal." gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those with you?" something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which "When did she vanish, then?" for its centre. from you?" social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the a suggestive one." in darkness. that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his new acquaintance to Baker Street. her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was him to go away.' met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "The doctor?" with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." the bottom.' passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. "Why, what do you mean?" again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "Certainly, madam." It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" was a loud and authoritative tap. also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently article?" vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no "So I am. Very much so." "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a bearing upon the case." "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias what do you think they found in the pockets?" the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was three of the beryls in it, was missing. offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up 11:15.' "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take in this note: in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no morning." "And what then?" spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him