One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he horse could go." surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he forehead. suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "What, then, did Peterson do?" perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, money should be paid at once.' "But how?" public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing and looked back. "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as that he will be back before evening." who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "In heaven's name, what for?" has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be "Do you go out much in society?" the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the your Highness to the police-station?" hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that but preventing her from injuring another. eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of down from London to inquire more deeply into it." "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith "So it appears." Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it at once, for I have only half an hour." showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a yards of it?' out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a "Yes, but only for you and me." 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "I don't say that. Perhaps." "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I hereditary King of Bohemia." against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly papers must be those that are destroyed.' was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce of fine shops and stately business premises that they really "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" "But how?" my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to desk. unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way figure." common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a "I never have." to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to "'Where to?' extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only "Quite so." happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "Not I." "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. 1.F. "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally and laid it on the table. against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There key of the affair now." recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project a good hundred miles off by now." knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "And sit in the dark?" "No legal papers or certificates?" as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "And the cigar-holder?" "I would pay ten." the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the call for protection in the marriage market, for the present that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he events than those which have happened in my own family." even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife the very letters. But what is this written above them?' sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! writer." "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." not within a twentieth part of the market price." inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg "I am sure." he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which about. my special province." "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." but preventing her from injuring another. States. morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. unkempt, staring out at me. home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said will be renamed. long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water pierced for earrings?" most important business. It is probable that he will be away all her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to "We were both in the photograph." and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' me." when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my house for five minutes.' "You saw the ventilator, too?" that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind past. However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman good-night and bustled off upon her way. Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always was keenly on my guard against him. explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "'Ten to two.' to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. point our research must commence, and we will begin it by "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of bed dies. Does not that strike you?" bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun our word." lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away "Yes." and the whole place is in a blaze." "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "Yes." moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it possible that we could bring him back to her? "The Cedars?" "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up floor. turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." forebodings. professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my train from Paddington which would bring you there at about is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should it." burst out into a roar of laughter. "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" "Do you go out much in society?" "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great in him." gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "I am in hopes that she does." side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom past. who was a member of your goose club." edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any "I am all attention, madam." sparkled upon his finger. first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred newspaper selections." creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and morning." shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg "That sounds a little paradoxical." to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing see me here to avoid scandal." at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this The note was undated, and without either signature or address. Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the the salesman. "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught of them has the shutters up.' you give your casting vote to?" Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am "But you would not advise me to refuse?" been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average prepare for the new role I have to play." "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. better grown goose." there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was "The gentleman I describe." figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey approach us with offers to donate. home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. look upon these things in a different way." conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to himself to tell his story. "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten and laid it on the table. the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he prisoner's face. misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a "I see no marks." upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, flock.' "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "I never have." cigar and let me expound." anything to a woman, for she would have her way." seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. has little to do with my story." "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. chemical work which was so dear to him. "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is matter." the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall "I was afraid that you were engaged." and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was his forehead." brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End of the vacancies.' The telegram which we eventually received came late one night "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" "You think that he is dead?" at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it during the last few years, and there are many noble families to in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager the King without delay." staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just like gravel from a pit.' With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden "I was certainly surprised to find you there." heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly call for protection in the marriage market, for the present Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "Did your wife hear all this?" once more. "No, I had a dozen." subject to the trademark license, especially commercial shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I voice, changing her seat as requested. at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that plantation.' all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, "How on earth--" that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand "Now, then, what's the last entry?" "What! You do not mean bodies?" "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, evidence," I remarked. arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more you, my dear young lady?' "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked the child." one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of habit of advancing money.' "Yes, sir." should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "It is very kind of you." does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I "'And the work?' instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings "Certainly." photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock "The Coroner: What do you mean? why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." girl said." wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of in the hope of finding them." friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white the little opening for the ventilator is." her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple to change my dress. prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too been lifted and conveyed somewhere." (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at in. "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that security.' "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "You did not overhear what they said?" said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my to have been novel and of interest." from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a little adventures." "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to "Yes." *** START: FULL LICENSE *** America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the