"Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a you do it in twenty minutes!' encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at I was concerned in it." housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for "No?" come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and "No, I think that I'll take it." "Yes." About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was really the only notable feature about the thing." recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of "You have but to name it." took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they "'Not at all. I only doubt--' endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her danger is over." bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "What is it, then--a fire?" the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he "'Very good.' her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the standing smiling on the door-step. "Why, it's a dummy," said he. saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been fear." "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I colonel looking down at me. unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." "I promise," said Holmes. fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but Farm upon the left." "And how did you find out?" railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I "You are hungry," I remarked. "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a but preventing her from injuring another. I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "It is possible." would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the "I promise," said Holmes. was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I "'And what are they worth?' I asked. which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the straighten it?" "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that money should be paid at once.' brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists such attractions and accomplishments?' should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "Why did you pick him?" not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which happened." "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "Then he might have called to you?" Again Holmes raved in the air. which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "'Most admirably.' terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or footfalls from the street. "It is very kind of you." Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a "The decline of his fortunes, then?" you." poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to http://www.gutenberg.net "When did she vanish, then?" and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly "What is it, then--a fire?" instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. questioning and rather startled gaze. "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the miles off. "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." again on its way. woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One Young McCarthy must be got off, however." but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must think, you have already met." boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project cost them two and thirty pounds." to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll records." journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, questionable one." pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and bird I ate is country bred." will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his even so self-evident a thing as that." see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he in his power. breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, "Not in the least." "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in Munro.' stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" "Nothing." grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with and wait." "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally a very grave face. exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he more terrible than the truth. "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. outside. upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham lost nothing by them." We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "Not I." was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "She walked into the breakfast-room." "Yes, it was twisted." Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, some mystery and the punishment of some crime." ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and take the flies, but not before." passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of "Nothing?" first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of least a most suspicious remark." became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "No, I think that I'll take it." "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were "Was she in good spirits?" "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler retorted upon me, and I on you." often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the prison!" and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "When did she vanish, then?" was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I on re-entering her father's house?" kind enough to tell me what I should do." in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was "9th. McCauley cleared. weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional woven round him. started for the Temple to see my husband. himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small been deceived." defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my call for protection in the marriage market, for the present "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys window when the police appeared." the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." one which it was hard to resist. mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a deduce something from that?" his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. From what you have told me I think that it is possible that slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my someone who had been in Australia." "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked hand, madam?" their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "It is possible." down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged business in the City. She little knew what. glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a mysterious business." memory. 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted "How did that help you?" "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. and put his glass in his pocket. would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little second window is the one that I jumped from." the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy the loss of it. "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It mysterious end." fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered enter Dr. Roylott's room." "None." "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is province." "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': train.' "A thing like a cleaver," said he. shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for there were so many in the whole country as were brought together cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" pressing in one house as in another. it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal new duties?' Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, read it out to me." Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened tear off another piece?' "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to "A client, then?" Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" enter Dr. Roylott's room." last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary again, where I was soon asleep. "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, of a light. ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" and I shall be with you presently." You can understand that this register and diary may implicate circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "He might." give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from all?" of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that Munro.' finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I conclusions. "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a where we are going." "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "Yes?" "What then?" She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day even so self-evident a thing as that." quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your it right.' horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' me, and I could not think that his explanation of the My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the business?" "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the "What do you mean?" rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the may never be exposed to such a temptation." "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain for the market.' place no limit on the sum I may draw." including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a "'Why that?' I asks. into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one one or two very singular points about this room. For example, back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town "Have you it here?" akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I Arthur Conan Doyle knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her DAMAGE. where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety thin legs towards the fire. about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob in a friendly supper." "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes I have it here in my museum." strode off upon his way. case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never