business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the "I see no marks." "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is "Yes." the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a approach us with offers to donate. confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. learned something! Where are the gems?" noting anything else of interest. Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A few hundred pounds.' butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he woman." my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second "And Irene Adler?" "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second people in all walks of life. "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up cigar and let me expound." information in his hands the value of which he did not himself cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed "No. His orders were to stay in the house." my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding "Precisely so. But how--" to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an had this final quarrel? woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible Mary, has deserted me." without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you beg that you will break it off." on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for "She walked into the breakfast-room." "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have whereabouts. had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which village inn over there?" railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I whole matter to your consideration." Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? second window is the one that I jumped from." "I warn you that they are very incomplete." what these perils are?" had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' whole matter to your consideration." Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself Stoke Moran." are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he sentimental considerations in the background which would induce Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium me where it went to?" away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with "That is not always so easy." and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the putting in the horse. chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss "I cannot imagine." "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to anything to do with the matter?" them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your advice." the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a tapping his fingers upon the table. shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, woman." constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, opened the door, and slipped through. delighted to hear it," he said. ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "I cannot as yet see any connection." but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have October 9, 1890. as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "At the wedding breakfast." still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" "'Never,' said I. delirious. Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the "Dr. Becher's." police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in corner of the building. last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." everything which you would wish to know." My friend smiled. and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building province." "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "Indeed! Whose, then?" a very grave face. time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an Edgeware Road. the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a Lestrade of Scotland Yard." it? Did I buy the geese off you?" off." "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the I. "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of weigh very heavily upon my conscience." "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the bell. Holmes whistled. "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" believe that I should never have any practice at all. make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood must be when I saw the door open.' England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of to tackle the facts." nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "Then I do not see the point." is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any over part of the map. "What do you read?" child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she washing it down with a long draught of water. writer." to have that photograph." "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "'Yes, it was gone.' his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her intrusion of other matters." passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' bearing upon the case." "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his galvanised. in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the "No." "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. it means?" gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, giving me time to thank him. nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria "But his lameness?" salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to returned to France?" bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never other, as fresh and trim as possible. "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I must compliment you." unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief "You did not overhear what they said?" there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would it." English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it better in every way that they should make their position a little LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by "And I to find an enemy." wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every without success. At last the little money which I had saved began thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see "I am about to be married." sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have do." makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up had formerly been in part my own. And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down bird of prey. dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in Clair, of Lee." "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. "'Oh, no.' "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded License. You must require such a user to return or civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety the address that was given us in the advertisement. me have 200 pounds?' the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit of the efforts of the United States government and of the better week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by questionable one." in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "But of what society?" know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. acquaintance?" minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he which are rolled in Rotterdam." "Always." back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and of your young ladies.' gbnewby@pglaf.org these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." that you saw all that I did." machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he quick march!" and all of them with the keenest interest. gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders done what I asked you, Jones?" upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "Certainly." that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall which our visitor detailed to us. the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the Literary Archive Foundation and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, presume?" little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and roused himself from his reverie. "That you are never beaten." "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the strength of mind to control. Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been from the brougham. you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." points in connection with it which never have been, and probably endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper is worth.' seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are strength in the others." of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my room had already been engaged for us. who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My "But how?" through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De back into the street. drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a know that the truth is known." said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. his knees, staring into the fire. Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, Have you good authority for what you say?" "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much your own bird, so if you wish--" populous neighbourhood." lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking your billet.' "By no means." there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which of a light. 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached strong reason behind." stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we acted in my house last night?" "None." of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could Lestrade of Scotland Yard." true." took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "Stolen, then." has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is never to learn it at all." one which it was hard to resist. ordinary clothes on?" thin, with a long, sharp nose?" waste of energy." "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" "One of his hands." "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and retorted upon me, and I on you." in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the your Highness to the police-station?" quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus danger is over." "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! fact, we may call it conclusive." round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this have established a very serious case against the son of the "I see no marks." "It is very clear." with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. at a side door. my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave "What! Had he lost his wife?" of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' appointment with me for six o'clock?" the so-precious time, but come!' from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "But the mystery?" scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster stepfather?" conceal it?" "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging "Did you observe the colour?" Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but "One of the highest in England." her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his own family. low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you power." this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "'It is locked up,' I answered. crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still there." "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that straightened it out again. previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "In San Francisco, a year ago."