quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before leave you to your papers for a little." lost nothing by them." from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "I cannot imagine." "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but Have you good authority for what you say?" centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, past. were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? once more for Briony Lodge. in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I "It is his hat." "Imitated." "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in nonsense.' he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and was once confined in the cab my mission was practically without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "You know me, then?" outsides of the windows. to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted envelope. the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the him to be an active member of the medical profession." "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the "Come in!" said he. said he. the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and it." cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for but preventing her from injuring another. shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation coat-tails." "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you Clair, of Lee." outside. indeed happy." "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic "You are all wrong." Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of about. must compliment you." showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had "Frequently." few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "And your father? Did you tell him?" go--none." article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." article?" "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have felt the room to be a little close.' during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, towards the blaze. "My last client of the sort was a king." the coronet in his hands?" Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. "How on earth--" since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. cost them two and thirty pounds." concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is certainly do as you advise." "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been occupations.' "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin hurried away. "But his lameness?" "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." companion imperturbably. "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. papers on the sundial.'" and that he would see to anything that turned up. and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I "'In my own bureau.' copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked "Yes." endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My up this clue while it is still hot." in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." with some details as to your case." "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you individual and becomes the badge of a society." invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the she might be summoned. Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." strode off upon his way. thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed beyond words. and wait." that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. thin legs towards the fire. "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman sentimental considerations in the background which would induce "By all means." "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear populous neighbourhood." not personally threatened." platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some go--none." lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold "Then I am your man." rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. "To an English lawyer named Norton." "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do for the market.' deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your I shall communicate with you." served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get back into the street. should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my conceal it?" "It is to him that this trophy belongs." said he. to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked "Not yet." "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, the matter." that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco behind me. English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, "My own seal." the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had secret." remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. case before our client came into the room." my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did Leadenhall Street--and--" "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in then?" "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "Yes." served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" you came in." of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it beyond words. puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small bachelor.' "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about "Then what has happened to him?" "Game for a morning drive?" money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, easy-going way." veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily other lovers by making love himself." liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal cheerful." the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "But she will refuse." his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were really the only notable feature about the thing." fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed definite end. outside." company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the few hundred pounds.' a few minutes he said that it would be all right. ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now very morning of my second wedding." advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the client, rising. story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was of note-paper. It read in this fashion: our word." distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "'Yes.' "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." problems help me to do so." rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" test if we have an answer to our advertisement." to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely kind enough to tell me what I should do." recall any case within my experience which looked at the first rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite "Is he quiet?" which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must written. "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was interested in these little problems, and since you are good off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your leaning back in his chair. incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as new duties?' along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was burst into a hearty fit of laughter. front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "It is true that I have been generally successful." have got?" inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to From what you have told me I think that it is possible that thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he "He might." until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have "You'll never persuade me to believe that." and the colonel ushered me in. been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some and I shall be with you presently." "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were in. poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences the inner apartment." public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he train from Paddington which would bring you there at about an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong "'Then let me do so?' "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of fattened it expressly for you.' the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End "Where is it, then?" chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other Surrey." have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. go--none." would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the said he. matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' "And how have you succeeded?" "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the Foundation the night.' feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the papers must be those that are destroyed.' "How did you deduce the select?" "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such putting in the horse. "Pray do so." hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would business." superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the note?" Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began "Yes." "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from presented which may be striking and bizarre without being Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. during the last few years, and there are many noble families to call for protection in the marriage market, for the present Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian foresight and the moral retrogression?" "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness there has been an enclosure here!" "How often?" examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a one's self under obligations.' his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "Not yet." to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich never came back." "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I;