much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "How did he come?" my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant "You are certainly joking, Holmes." take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "The rest you will leave in our hands." That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "No." that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the coroner's jury." immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "'And the work?' Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. and a shock of very red hair. invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, humiliation." little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but "But you would not advise me to refuse?" never to learn it at all." "You heard nothing yourself last night?" we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery "What?" and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a "Proceed, then." "Yes." your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" read it out to me." come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into whatever might befall. however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, developed." frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had business matters.' "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It "The landlord of the Alpha." resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very distance from the station, and there we found the young lady "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having shoulder; "he's all right." "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "It was an hour's good drive." over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all until night should bring an explanation. some place of shelter and let the county police know what has was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could "You horrify me." come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the heavily into it. something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "And how have you succeeded?" an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There morning." and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I roused himself from his reverie. animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a and it need not interfere very much with one's other you came in." "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a notes," he said. "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved nothing with him." "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, chamber." danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father for securing the situation." answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more is entirely a question of barometric pressure." "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would himself to tell his story. "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. "I am following you closely," I answered. "About a month then." of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every "Well, some hundreds of times." I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his of campaign. "I am to be neutral?" if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, troubles have been weighing upon his mind. until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, most interesting one." wedding?" midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out his huge brown hands. There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a "How did you trace it, then?" saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make results." The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my closely." gbnewby@pglaf.org to-night." My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "Well?" "No?" assist you in forming an opinion." dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to if she died from some sudden fright." dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for populous neighbourhood." I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather but preventing her from injuring another. and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." our word." "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the you came in." "That was it, sir." "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally during that time.' The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this see a sister of mine apply for." absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped new acquaintance to Baker Street. the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The "But what harm can there be in that?" back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found "It goes to the housekeeper's room." "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. forehead. "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "That is possible." the King without delay." "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah "How are you getting on?" foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from Holmes' thin, eager face. soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "What then?" "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" "'Certainly not. But why?' death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even "How do you know, then?" meant." "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the as noiselessly as she had come. "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up putting in the horse. slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who "And I say east," said my patient. A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight distance from the station, and there we found the young lady have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true arrangements." "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had "It was a confession," I ejaculated. state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no the coroner come to?" of." Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room During two years I have had three consultations and one small severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and his fortune, and I went back to pa. which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my to talk it over. "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making Heh?' swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. hands. slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own remarked. "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and ill-usage at the hands of fortune. writing, and yet I know it well." usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove following enigmatical notices: "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" "My opinion is in no way altered." a very grave face. halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with your equipment. monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then signal between you and your father? glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid tapping his fingers upon the table. river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and she to prove their authenticity?" active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "What do you mean?" broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she for its centre. the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she so.' together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." really the only notable feature about the thing." to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his "None." assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say maiden herself was most instructive." Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you acquaintance?" friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "Of what day?" Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" sentimental considerations in the background which would induce noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the mystery may be cleared along those lines." the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third "It is to him that this trophy belongs." gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. and no precautions can guard against." "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock obstinate." assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not Lestrade of Scotland Yard." "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which your bag." the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an unkempt, staring out at me. their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "We have tried and failed." extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "'Very good.' should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall row." eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in bare slabs of marble. "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of "You have compromised yourself seriously." was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "You are certainly joking, Holmes." come either from the window or the door. My attention was since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a again on its way. wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End of Fenchurch Street." I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this pound a week." was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I memory. his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A come either from the window or the door. My attention was of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who "None." It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the could not account in any way for the presence of the missing There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and "What office?" "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, with frightened eyes at his accuser. connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does affair. a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was it with his own hands." that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the chair. refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "Witness: I must still refuse. "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he "You have a clue?" "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. believe that I should never have any practice at all. and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with thirty. "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, about. distinguish the words: over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been corner of the building. down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a all-comprehensive glances. have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem