order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. congenial hunt. if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle at my own good fortune. Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are families. Now for the facts. "Where, indeed?" lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then McCarthy." "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would noise which awoke you from your sleep?" "Pray tell us what has happened to you." The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the "And the cigar-holder?" and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked place no limit on the sum I may draw." words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my which are rolled in Rotterdam." "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided any little problem which you may submit to me." the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce over here." ashen face. the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" meant." "I will, Miss Turner." "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a Farm upon the left." Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was to talk it over. client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his appeal." Gutenberg-tm License. successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed Sholtos." that I am arrested." money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in this as likely?" would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, his huge brown hands. "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" seen the man in the road." air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE roused himself from his reverie. out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." meant it for the best. waste of energy." there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "And why in hopes?" "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "Imitated." if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible amused." "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a as this. Pray let me have the details." wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have own family. of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel "No, I am descending." upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." "You heard nothing yourself last night?" his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark handed it to him. Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" business?" "It certainly sounds feasible." serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" "You don't mind breaking the law?" to his chemical studies. Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and I held the little printed slip to the light. the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an the coronet at all injured?" year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which closing the door. time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "That is possible." he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the the child." The telegram which we eventually received came late one night five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving is a common subject for conversation. and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that business at Coburg Square is serious." jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he hour." "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he speckled band?" old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was hand, madam?" and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with impression behind it as though a window had gently closed "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and young Openshaw's." "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you a room. crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The chemical work which was so dear to him. I shall communicate with you." "Dark enough and sinister enough." month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "In which, sir?" "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the "Yes?" in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged The police have openly confessed that they can at present make Munro.' been with you?" obstinate." that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "'I shall certainly be there.' your most interesting statement." acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "Yes, sir." With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could "Pray let us have it, for all that." have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really could not have written that. It is the German who is so and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. constraint." relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may 11:15.' solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew business in the City. She little knew what. shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford during which he might have communicated with his friend the "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg and shall probably return to London by the evening train." through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. arms and began to sob in a high treble key. humiliation." "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met "How on earth--" money should be paid at once.' "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young conduct the inquiry." his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and straighten it?" He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "One horse?" interjected Holmes. my room." and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. help us in this matter." permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs is four-and-twenty." vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, Have you good authority for what you say?" "I was mad--insane." see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an correct than the official force." have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever chamber." "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that all that?" "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "Then the page we have seen--" eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head notes," he said. of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I four million human beings all jostling each other within the eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are over with notes and figures. of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project felt?" "In heaven's name, what for?" before the coroner and the police-court." time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons villagers almost as much as their master. Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely forebodings. one else, I think." main points of my analysis." Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "Not him." furiously. however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer copied or distributed: I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where "Then I am your man." fluttered off among the others. 'please.'" "Not yet." in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "I am all attention, madam." say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step "What are they?" of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. shaken than I had ever seen him. "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. You can understand that this register and diary may implicate tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I Lee, in the county of Kent." which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of "It is half-past ten now." "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." see me here to avoid scandal." "What! Had he lost his wife?" The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And searched, without anything being found which could incriminate what is your own theory as to what took place?" "Well, it is a possible supposition." the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" Holmes' thin, eager face. hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." This is what he says: "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable your equipment. not use it unless it is absolutely needed." A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat "A client, then?" "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, you want, then?' my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than in the port of London." Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "They are typewritten," I remarked. a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a arrested. You then--" crowd. have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through spare." money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "Who by?" PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "I saw her in conversation with her maid." man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of to arrive at through this?" and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked "One of his hands." towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "At the wedding breakfast." wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near "He is still with you, I presume?" "How can you tell that?" you understand?" people don't know." twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as which we had just quitted. several quiet little villages up there." called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "You heard nothing yourself last night?" window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. served to weaken the effect. For additional contact information: the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of been anything against him. He had for years been known as a he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." the inner apartment." begin with, and I had not got mine yet." and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I fishes. will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "It is his hat." knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "I see many objections to any such theory." continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such introspective fashion. "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it of them has the shutters up.' waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "How can you tell that?" In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. "Pray tell us what has happened to you." upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This washing it down with a long draught of water. Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so in the hope of finding them." had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the to go into your room and bar your shutters?" done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and fashion which was peculiar to him. not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project opened the door, and slipped through. lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." seen the man in the road." "In heaven's name, what for?" like that before?" Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear your most interesting statement." "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master "Who was the criminal, then?" doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, man. it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had States. to affect your life." have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" sparkled upon his finger. shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I mystery may be cleared along those lines." "And your father? Did you tell him?" yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while this unhappy family?" face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one