things are very often connected not with the larger but with the and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a woven round him. giving me time to thank him. "Then, how do you know?" PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now the room while you explain this matter?" those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they within hail.' perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong house for five minutes.' search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." ill-usage at the hands of fortune. believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "How do you know, then?" than to us. was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled during that time.' chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the hand, madam?" suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. "That is also quite modern," said the lady. professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police "What is it, then--a fire?" "Stolen." to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both "A client, then?" "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification ran thus: "Then you may entirely rely on me." Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped "We have tried and failed." hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation go--none." you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. breakfast and whispered something to her husband. In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's 1.F. not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the thin legs towards the fire. "Very truly yours, I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner and wait." desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in married her." find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut is entirely a question of barometric pressure." very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and himself. it. me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that I took the paper from him and read as follows: Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice "Stolen." It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" what I may call a really hard day's work." "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. these bleak autumnal evenings." "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and deduce something from that?" and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, have one." the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to bears upon the case?" "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different handed it to him. For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. to-night's adventure." Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce prepare for the new role I have to play." faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be "'I am sure if I had known--' of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" "Yesterday." Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "'And the work?' my little problems." poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "I came to find a friend." points in connection with it which never have been, and probably whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning "How are you getting on?" "What is it, then--a fire?" "Then the page we have seen--" "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the the Friday. Was it to be in church?" Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit man. matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was trying to your nerves." "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, singular points about the case. What did the police think of the "If so, much may have happened between." child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the Sholtos." paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What cost them two and thirty pounds." presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "What is it?" way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client the Friday. Was it to be in church?" responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. intrusion of other matters." passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did Holmes' room. consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been you want, then?' and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us his wife has ceased to love him." "Never." The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my "You have it, sir, just as it happened." of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I "What office?" "I will not look." single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should "Perhaps I have." steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of my room." corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest "Stoke Moran?" said he. of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to "Was she in good spirits?" on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or until night should bring an explanation. honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question charged with?" "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without to have that photograph." help us in this matter." Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your you." "They are typewritten," I remarked. search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." "It is solved." "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "'Is purely nominal.' which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and had a long day." Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: "Married! When?" here and I will read it to you: from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his woman who has had her own way to make in the world. behind me. during that time.' "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. "Oh, the cause is excellent!" Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of me where it went to?" were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "One of his hands." and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that fait accompli?" house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "Deserted you?" assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say was a loud and authoritative tap. "And sit in the dark?" her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly cause to be." lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "He said too much." "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work triumphant cloud from his cigarette. he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "A greater distance to travel." certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery prepare for the new role I have to play." clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather "Could he throw no light?" indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated "'Not at all. I only doubt--' compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight "But you can know nothing of this?" "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." "Precisely so. But how--" "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting completely overtopped every other consideration that we both Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "And how did he make his money?" adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a spare." actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect I nodded again. "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make said he. "It came here." "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, companion. "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own our word." the dangers which encompass me." very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the "I don't believe it." "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in the so-precious time, but come!' always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "Why, what do you mean?" you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were know all about it," he snarled. together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their affair. The note was undated, and without either signature or address. off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "And that is--" "Why, what do you mean?" strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. For additional contact information: was a lad." amused." building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled late." But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." not, dad?" she asked. A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering all-comprehensive glances. disappearance of the bride.'" know what is wrong with it.' my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in with frightened eyes at his accuser. could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham it." "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. what I may call a really hard day's work." "Your presence might be invaluable." of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the outsides of the windows. writers could invent nothing more crude." Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your Chief Executive and Director "No?" I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught you, my dear young lady?' docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing means taking possession of that which another person has a prior dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been noting anything else of interest. smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put "That is it on the dressing-table." my friend's incisive reasoning. "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it never came back." that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these Have you good authority for what you say?" homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. believe that I should never have any practice at all. breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up meant it for the best. that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for awaited us upon the table. call for protection in the marriage market, for the present a little more before I quite committed myself. determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate just ask you whether you had heard it.'