"Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I in a very precise fashion." be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "And I to find an enemy." things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the his cane at the bell-pull. strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before the loss of it. same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the was once confined in the cab my mission was practically "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had meanly of me." fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And there was no need for father to know." his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the heavy and sharp instrument." "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the views." ill-usage at the hands of fortune. gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the I took the paper from him and read as follows: "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of impression behind it as though a window had gently closed constraint." was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, "And help." "At the wedding breakfast." burst out into a roar of laughter. former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his photograph?" daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "No, I think that I'll take it." seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, me." "Very well, sir. And this stone?" Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be and have this put in the evening papers." from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up excitement. "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was sneer upon his pale face. groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the as yours." you?' young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client fashion which was peculiar to him. Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew "No?" surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over hour." them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove to change my dress. a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of "So I have heard." his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. to-night?" I asked. upon an income of about 60 pounds." The note was undated, and without either signature or address. is acting for the best. when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven people don't know." "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined when your master had gone out." Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the "Yes, certainly." rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly so.' her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His how narrow had been my escape. "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of thought that she would have been so carried away." "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. you?' "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small read it out to me." it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like "I have hopes." That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm "On the contrary, this is the right side." and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a them present such singular features as the strange train of the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that "But your client--" the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin fasten all the windows?" "Yes." it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "How did he come?" a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an strong reason behind." "But his lameness?" more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found "I am to be neutral?" over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change bed dies. Does not that strike you?" fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, ventilator." me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and questionable one." three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." dates and names. "Two days later this same performance was gone through under A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "They are typewritten," I remarked. 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which "That was it, sir." you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I empty. gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged had died away into the silence from which it rose. is a common subject for conversation. turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I which should have the effect of calling the attention of the had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, formed some opinion?" we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "Did you become engaged then?" when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the The telegram which we eventually received came late one night heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in Serpentine Avenue. Pool. "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" infinite languor in his face. and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend which are rolled in Rotterdam." he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do shag which I had seen upon the previous night. child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said "'You doubt its value?' he asked. "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "Stolen, then." bled considerably." "The knees of his trousers." I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, were wasted." "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "10th. John Swain cleared. a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, will he say when he returns?" too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the http://gutenberg.net/license). that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what "But you were on a friendly footing?" to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is as the one I chose?' therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked absorbing." upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of indiscretion." returned to France?" "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself amused." particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. there." that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the singular points about the case. What did the police think of the Chief Executive and Director "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which "How are you getting on?" "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, "I see no marks." floor. wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; "Upon what point?" "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, "And you don't know his address?" with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "Quite so. She has her freedom." shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. of." who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in Sholtos." reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the populous neighbourhood." commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window leaning back in his chair. son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter remarked. could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, four million human beings all jostling each other within the of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "Ten will be early enough." time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an that, and I came down." and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send I held the little printed slip to the light. "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of never will be, entirely cleared up. into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder absolutely follow my advice in every respect." at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "Yes, at the mines." happened." "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I answered with a sidelong glance. "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our "But he might be a bachelor." had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch would then never go into court at all." strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave that I may have something better before very many minutes are feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort observed. the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad your own bird, so if you wish--" large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the page at http://pglaf.org "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was morning." other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until had no one to advise her at such a crisis." should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any front of the hall door has given its name to the place. still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress "But she could not love him." knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly records." "They are typewritten," I remarked. truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two "But he might be a bachelor." there has been an enclosure here!" of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. open." "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so business at Coburg Square is serious." possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his been with you?" possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and room. "'I am sure if I had known--' nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that appeal." work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 the Assizes." "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating said I. saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know "I am following you closely," I answered. hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he may have an influence upon European history." "Precisely." and the church but not where the lady lived." opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for "I will, Miss Turner." could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "'Where to?' is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no "Yes." introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in of them has the shutters up.' "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the "I am to be neutral?" homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." "Yes, I have one waiting." "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came goes." The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate over here." the date of his supposed suicide." "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in the one as in the other." "What have you to say now?" fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the http://www.gutenberg.net compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but cheerful." interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend appointment with me for six o'clock?" "It may not come to that," said Holmes. "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "But he might be a bachelor." my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of said he. the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the "One?" "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." once more for Briony Lodge. congenial hunt. "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other relief. "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that