"God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very "I fear not." is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no searched, without anything being found which could incriminate official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. astonishment. "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" is entirely a question of barometric pressure." we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on of them has the shutters up.' test if we have an answer to our advertisement." necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My place, I think that there is good ground to think that the earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. been anything against him. He had for years been known as a his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. instituted." Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to article?" congenial hunt. array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an that he has suffered." balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly hands. unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. way in everything. fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of relation between them, and what the object of his repeated pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I which I could not give. He asked for Alice. keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. again on its way. glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this goes." like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies "But his lameness?" "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "I have hopes." "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't the inner apartment." light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to means taking possession of that which another person has a prior Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can "Certainly, madam." clanging. might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still "It is possible." They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" window when the police appeared." client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, and laid it on the table. that I am arrested." hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." burst out into a roar of laughter. "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of time." when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you "What have you to say now?" "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to "I was mad--insane." reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far to-night." he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." whatever might befall. fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "Just look it up, then." 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in "I was certainly surprised to find you there." on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be "I think that I had better go, Holmes." knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." have I gained?" There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her "It is a murder, then?" the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an Eyford at 11:15.' ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was leave you to your papers for a little." rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course for and were ordered to this address. "Was she in good spirits?" his wife has ceased to love him." gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you carpenter." parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is quite distinctive." here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently simple cases which are so extremely difficult." see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and read it out to me." Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. "Then you may entirely rely on me." Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "Do you go out much in society?" "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An the dangers which encompass me." and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "Texas, I think." ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. "He is still with you, I presume?" Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "'Oh, no.' old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door will he say when he returns?" is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty stood on the top of it. gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more "Certainly, madam." "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional breakfast?" be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of Clair, of Lee." is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the "To an English lawyer named Norton." "But you were on a friendly footing?" completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me McCarthy's innocence. eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked again, where I was soon asleep. for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the hair?' "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found Holmes." there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of "At half-wages, in fact." was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after "And on what day did he meet his death?" and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. your room." "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "And how have you succeeded?" upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to unclasping of his long thin hands. doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall "'Which dealer's?' out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been one else, I think." Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few a suggestive one." imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "Very well, sir. And this stone?" me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they three fields round his house, and there he would take his We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one humiliation." had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "What!" he roared. result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "I assure you that I am in your hands." evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new whatever might befall. "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," may never be exposed to such a temptation." sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he relation between them, and what the object of his repeated had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I "Do you go out much in society?" be.' horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from "And your father? Did you tell him?" "You have a clue?" or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from is so. I know all about McCarthy." of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that constraint." secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? was it brought him the coronet? "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works all that?" with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "Pray continue your narrative." something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such of the one which your family is now devouring." know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own not as remarkable as your advertisement." "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down "It is possible." houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, miles off. vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private which it had come upon my father." word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or furiously. with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had was shining brightly. "Of what?" was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of face and glided from the room. with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "None." "Pray continue your narrative." "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. tear off another piece?' with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until fashion which was peculiar to him. the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his "By all means." all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke "'Where to?' on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that to change my dress. prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear behind me. creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project "What of the rat, then?" may never be exposed to such a temptation." all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this "Perfectly so." there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "Where is it, then?" occupations.' the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King weigh very heavily upon my conscience." possible that we could bring him back to her? think you a quite exceptional woman." about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "That is easily got." common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, him. me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see "'Never,' said I. who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." which was all perfectly true. is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our "But you would not advise me to refuse?" experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort look upon these things in a different way." one of the states of the Union." at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. tell me that you intended to go into harness." the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across I was concerned in it." I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our "You saw the ventilator, too?" established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and heavy and sharp instrument." pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will "And how did you verify them?" be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to way in." "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the dramatic, in fact." "It is possible." goes." monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called salesman. developed." "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "And is that all?" "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. key of the affair now." through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the the dangers which encompass me." outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of new duties?' "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to see me here to avoid scandal." husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the lamp in his hand. to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "The doctor?" "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On became a certainty. laugh and put his lips to my ear. at once, for I have only half an hour." appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This character. Arthur Conan Doyle "Yes, from Horsham." Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a use an arc-and-compass breastpin." desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a felt?" confronted him. been with you?" not as remarkable as your advertisement." ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house