speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America "That is possible." elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold Eyford at 11:15.' office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "And Irene Adler?" in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the wanted for ourselves." and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend to a more successful conclusion." "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it would apply.' the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his before the coroner and the police-court." of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in http://gutenberg.net/license). McCarthy." could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, call it cruel." "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. laugh and put his lips to my ear. "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, was feeling which was the fattest.' Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said shadow pass over his face as I spoke. Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the "And the murderer?" himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a "What will you do, then?" as he remarks, very much against the son." had no one to advise her at such a crisis." done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. key turn in the lock." wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged hurried away. He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a lumber-room." "And why?" one of the states of the Union." some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the views." you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in this Miss Turner." to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "But how did you gain them?" explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the rose-bushes. future lives." make me his representative both with the servants and with the SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of God! What an exposure! What can I do?" served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "I cannot say that I have." "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "It may not come to that," said Holmes. "In answer to an advertisement." upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of delirious. "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "Here?" never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of my friend's incisive reasoning. my room." "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been other, as fresh and trim as possible. The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments lamp in his hand. my room." the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, "Yes, only one." the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands them?" "Were they all fastened this morning?" can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "I beg pardon." another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "Come in!" said Holmes. the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to brought there to personate someone, and the real person is slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I "The best possible." entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that so.' "Certainly." seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, night.' said he. "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of him nearly every evening." "Yes." all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside do." his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" flock.' The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that Surrey." been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he key turn in the lock." "By no means." his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and fear." was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried DAMAGE. light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his "You are hungry," I remarked. accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "There is the writing." "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The dates and names. Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in made his money." may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he prison!" very old mansion. Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door tapping his fingers upon the table. "I am armed." "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "And sit in the dark?" so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him bell. Holmes whistled. half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' "No, thank goodness, she did not." the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he October 9, 1890. "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty some place of shelter and let the county police know what has have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by "But she will refuse." other lovers by making love himself." estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had away to you." parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "Then you may be so with me." not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "Where did he live, then?" And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident "Yes." have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever door?" explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the "Your presence might be invaluable." scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from I am not easy in my mind about them." society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "It is true that I have been generally successful." "'You doubt its value?' he asked. before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been "But how will you look?" Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. which are rolled in Rotterdam." "In answer to an advertisement." of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a my room." against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' ready to-morrow?' finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "No." so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "This concluded the examination of the witness." "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short waste of energy." "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" is now desirous of getting those letters back." array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same his fortune, and I went back to pa. "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. hair?' "The gentleman I describe." leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our http://gutenberg.net/license). even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into chair. paper in the air. plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer "Two days later this same performance was gone through under violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler of." "Yes, certainly." connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "'Why that?' I asks. abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those business." "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very way in." He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little "But to whom?" nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my "Never." to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped events, Mr. Windibank!" its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from go back?" "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." crime. that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from be there in time for your coming." doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite "No. What a strange idea!" "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "I say it is." "And who is her maid?" do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, chemical work which was so dear to him. this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case interest. They are important, you understand, without being "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for more solid." be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "In which, sir?" sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any "No good news?" hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. this unhappy family?" "And help." have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were even of instruction." drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, "And why?" At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the "And is that all?" foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "You forget that I know nothing about it." well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, washing it down with a long draught of water. "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or to-morrow." pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed towards the blaze. advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address so.' "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no he bowed and left the room without another word. lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers fear." you?' St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. very peculiar words of the dying woman?" was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in "Not I." "Nothing?" the stable lane now." secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then heavy and sharp instrument." It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as other lovers by making love himself." rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "It is to him that this trophy belongs." tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at derbies." the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing see a sister of mine apply for." your co-operation." "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in "Only as much as we can deduce." door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until "But you would not advise me to refuse?" American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' correct than the official force." home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was "Dirty?" held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of