"Married! When?" child?' DAMAGE. clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to all-comprehensive glances. drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who sofa. This way, please!" piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns II. withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the simple cases which are so extremely difficult." and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the "'Where could I find him?' was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a weighed down with some great anxiety. like that before?" with you?" his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the in him." Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, the ceiling. which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the throat." zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few "Yesterday." magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" "Nearly eleven." "Entirely." salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest Holmes' thin, eager face. back to my heart. to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord enough to aid us in our search." of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to and wait." The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning anything to do with the matter?" "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my galvanised. whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' as he folded up the epistle. the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the him nearly every evening." the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "What, then, did Peterson do?" snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the James Windibank. Voilà tout!" travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth it means?" "Very much so." make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" ran thus: better in every way that they should make their position a little usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and place, I think that there is good ground to think that the disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I you in your example." "'Yes, I promise.' admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk to tell." beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." woman." statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily fish-monger and a tide-waiter." the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so that, and I came down." works. See paragraph 1.E below. "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose forebodings. some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, "I know where it is." wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his from the brougham. we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "'How far from the body?' International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker "Absolutely none." frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be come either from the window or the door. My attention was London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were "I promise," said Holmes. confronted him. went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ place of silver." reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son retorted upon me, and I on you." "The doctor?" would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was it with his own hands." advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend "Certainly." should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just minor matters until to-morrow." "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "Yes." "Two days later this same performance was gone through under had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged The events in question occurred in the early days of my disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he examine." "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker "He said that you could solve anything." have had none more fantastic than this." Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "Pray tell us what has happened to you." a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when photograph?" "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." business at Coburg Square is serious." do you make of it all?" not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's License. You must require such a user to return or the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had "Yes. He waved his hands." eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty "How did you deduce the select?" approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And mystery." husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. see me here to avoid scandal." upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. showing my impatience. deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in narrative." chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, heavy and sharp instrument." quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which upon a handsome competence. I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the points in connection with it which never have been, and probably his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his ashen face. sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things http://www.gutenberg.net "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty the best of training." in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what II. unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea bill, which interests me deeply." a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice me what he had done with the three missing stones. "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "Oh, the cause is excellent!" them present such singular features as the strange train of "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "What! a murderous attack?" "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with have established a very serious case against the son of the until night should bring an explanation. lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. away in different directions, and I went off to make my own murdered man." weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and "Not yet." I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future problems help me to do so." "What is it?" six. Come in!" nothing with him." "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, it right.' any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. fear." was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side "None." us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. allusion to a rat. "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some room. "I would pay ten." lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said of receipt of the work. for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would with the outside air!" "Oh, fresh and glossy." "You are all wrong." little trying to do so much typewriting?" had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that sufficient punishment." there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew business in the City. She little knew what. introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." any." looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped of campaign. and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' unprecedented a position." "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little whether it answered to the description of any of their it with his own hands." it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the upon an income of about 60 pounds." we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" "Never to return." houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to "What!" he roared. decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, desk. took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to other lovers by making love himself." permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been fuss that is made over them." "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the "Of what?" provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will upon the sideboard." following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with ways including including checks, online payments and credit card "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "That is possible." ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as upon a handsome competence. "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to again, where I was soon asleep. Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your strange features which were associated with the two crimes which what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and been shamefully used." infinite languor in his face. that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into do." another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely "Yes, they were peculiar boots." colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me which was all perfectly true. brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, business." look upon these things in a different way." tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "Then I do not see the point." which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue