income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble "She walked into the breakfast-room." I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged "I was certainly surprised to find you there." quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with he died? and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but and looked back. "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an question," said Holmes, smiling. the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. your sleep?' fish-monger and a tide-waiter." "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" make me his representative both with the servants and with the was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was suddenly upon us." "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. your sleep?' sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business chamber." forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he the address that was given us in the advertisement. endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper Serpentine Avenue. the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** you." even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have despaired of." when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an "'Oh, no.' beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. is four-and-twenty." And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? "None. Neville wrote those words." the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way case before our client came into the room." me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" "No, thank goodness, she did not." I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as power." drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy "I never have." Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be this man was intellectual?" painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, to a light-house. "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I swore that no one else had been in the front room during the "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back "And did you observe any change in her then?" between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed "I am following you closely," I answered. for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. bore every mark of being an average commonplace British that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. my secret was safe in his possession. down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness away to you." the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, little adventures." both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to tail." instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told place no limit on the sum I may draw." pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the "She walked into the breakfast-room." "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace "Yes." business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative Where does the thing come from?' eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend attention." and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "In which, sir?" have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, over with notes and figures. have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by must compliment you." the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the as he folded up the epistle. even so self-evident a thing as that." friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light McCarthy." delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few about. me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my the loss of it. observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I throat." "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic shadow pass over his face as I spoke. The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our your Highness to the police-station?" that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil companion. "Well, it is a possible supposition." wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," soul! here is her carriage at the door." transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the conduct the inquiry." remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the gives a meaning to it." possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set gone before you can get him to hospital." "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "No good news?" time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged not use it unless it is absolutely needed." the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told "She will not sell." relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." had died away into the silence from which it rose. sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what prepare for the new role I have to play." has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon "If so, much may have happened between." flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery "I do." other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "At the wedding breakfast." I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." excitement. and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, cup of tea. reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple "Entirely." foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and in him." "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "'Never,' said I. it. fuss that is made over them." year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "I see many objections to any such theory." "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be sake, don't!" there has been an enclosure here!" his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. strength of mind to control. there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, My friend smiled. bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case desk. wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, "Here?" "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the and the church but not where the lady lived." down in his armchair and closing his eyes. "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be the dangers which encompass me." saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret My friend smiled. "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All woman who has had her own way to make in the world. soul! here is her carriage at the door." half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington considering the formidable letters which were received by himself "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and Holmes' thin, eager face. them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, fluttered off among the others. off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. at home. we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in do.' the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You chamber." was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under "What then?" call you and give you the chance." of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was invisible to me," I remarked. "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." imbecility!" he cried. "He disappeared so suddenly." the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked "It is true that I have been generally successful." ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, during that time.' fled together." towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some "Your sister is dead, then?" 11:15.' so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' I think that I could be of assistance to you." "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an breakfast." mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative is now desirous of getting those letters back." doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." the running down." particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that crackling voice. her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless lamp in his hand. which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say read over the extraordinary announcement. of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an "Ten will be early enough." she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at putting in the horse. street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first From what you have told me I think that it is possible that Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable house for five minutes.' agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "I have a cab outside." Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "You horrify me!" sake, don't!" London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you assist you in forming an opinion." I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. that he will be back before evening." annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some did not hear it also.' "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." ill-usage at the hands of fortune. had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong distance from the station, and there we found the young lady fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his "One?" gone. "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to the stones. Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." over part of the map. "What do you read?" sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic the window, rose as we entered. through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "No sign of it?" "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat country, and eventually married, without anyone having a breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of call for it in person on Monday morning.' "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a lost nothing by them." formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "And now?" I asked. friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, think that he is innocent?" that there was nothing in it, after all." America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "Did he not advertise?" to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about at once, for I have only half an hour." business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside would apply.' I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to had formerly been in part my own. For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right was lame." to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could Farm upon the left." shall use the carriage to-night." whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are