lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the "It's nothing of the kind." freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my I approached. facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few woven round him. once more to my work. Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was simple cases which are so extremely difficult." There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless are windows in it, of course?" there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we that I may have something better before very many minutes are upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was "I never have." "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "Have you her photograph?" Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." and laid it on the table. photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a upon the shelf for the interim." Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock all?" possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. the matter." Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips photograph a cabinet?" "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from make me his representative both with the servants and with the happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard upon the shelf for the interim." "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. that there was nothing in it, after all." however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. Countess of Morcar's?" "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told I am not easy in my mind about them." "There is the writing." doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a to Leatherhead. comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an that I can to serve you." fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." it means?" "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." will be renamed. depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "Then I am your man." same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the some mystery and the punishment of some crime." "Yes." before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in you in yours." "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink "'What, the red-headed man?' Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" father's young wife. things are very often connected not with the larger but with the gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his rooms." spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, note?" "Her father is very rich?" so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and "Two days later this same performance was gone through under definite end. compunction about shooting them down." the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal new acquaintance to Baker Street. She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other once more to my work. entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered allusion to a rat. may never be exposed to such a temptation." "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is results." memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the he bowed and left the room without another word. confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I mysterious end." electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. before, for it was considerably after midnight. views." writing, and yet I know it well." so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been of them has the shutters up.' that?' some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick were new raised from a basin. after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and could not account in any way for the presence of the missing them, and came down just as you departed. will be renamed. In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The Street. think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a come either from the window or the door. My attention was and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may "Yes." man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the "But what harm can there be in that?" you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public been able to understand it, in a very few words. "By no means." in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round unprecedented a position." the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers gone before you can get him to hospital." "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "'What, the red-headed man?' "It goes to the housekeeper's room." the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he notes," he said. present strange and interesting features that it is no easy of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls your bag." appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your you in your example." "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "Stolen, then." "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting "'Certainly not.' her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to than was visible to me." little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "Yes." "'Is 4 pounds a week.' her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." sparkled upon his finger. then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual you." Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "I have my revolver," said I. wanted for ourselves." they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. such attractions and accomplishments?' what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded conclusions. roused himself from his reverie. "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been "Then, how do you know?" enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. them?" "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to "'I am sure that I do not know.' used to be." "Then I shall certainly come." our word." remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn the stones. "Who by?" certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the and laid it on the table. "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "'What, the red-headed man?' "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it in his hands." observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "Perhaps I have." I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited definite end. "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other "Game for a morning drive?" me. the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "You have compromised yourself seriously." This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to felt the room to be a little close.' his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "Never." the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, very peculiar words of the dying woman?" been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "They are typewritten," I remarked. get her out of the way." I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, it." when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to been able to understand it, in a very few words. take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "I have hopes." "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel out." this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I "Where to?" by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, gigantic client. such person." branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival burst out into a roar of laughter. "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" The events in question occurred in the early days of my shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like threw himself down with his face to the pillow. "So I am. Very much so." Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching to-night?" I asked. 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "But how?" business at Coburg Square is serious." the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the "'Never,' said I. hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if placed his cuttings. developed." must compliment you." case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my because she had spent so short a time in this country that she but preventing her from injuring another. crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two "'Then let me do so?' a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of later, upon the night of May 2nd." ways of our fellow-men." "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and you." "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into murdered man." goes." said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an "Won't it ring?" that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if "'Quite sure, dad.' clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his one of the states of the Union." follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "None." my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just down. respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "You think that he is dead?" "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and Countess of Morcar's?" usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" "How often?" that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and goes." Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before past. "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." was a lad." "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "And I say east," said my patient. methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the You can understand that this register and diary may implicate rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "If so, much may have happened between." from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the lamp in his hand. through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique "How long did she speak to this Alice?" Dr. Gregory B. Newby scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" that