letters?" "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until chance at all." "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a and looked back. case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of eavesdroppers?' house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by "Not I." to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce of fine shops and stately business premises that they really conversation I have gathered that they have been married about Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See particular state visit http://pglaf.org Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very question," said Holmes, smiling. would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are "Then how many are there?" long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not to his chemical studies. Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "'What would be the hours?' I asked. "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and more terrible than the truth. in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project help us in this matter." "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were Holmes' face clouded over. the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would use an arc-and-compass breastpin." "And leave your case unfinished?" morning." "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat green of the new foliage. followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? during that time.' come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend Serpentine Avenue. strange features which were associated with the two crimes which "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "There is the writing." moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to and it need not interfere very much with one's other at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent fattened it expressly for you.' front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the "Will you go?" suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and strong reason behind." "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint there." empty. Edgeware Road. nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on to tell." company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and perplexity from it to my illustrious client. thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see "'I have already given you my word.' "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the "It is half-past ten now." "It is possible." evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "No, I am descending." "Dirty?" "Where, then?" "You don't mind breaking the law?" I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. writing, and yet I know it well." "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of nothing with him." be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. "Thank you. Pray proceed." my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing "But your client--" "Precisely." the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually these bleak autumnal evenings." "Did he not advertise?" us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for good for you to do.' it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco sooner or later she must fall a victim. and files of the old papers, following the future career of every abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he trying to your nerves." home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself again on its way. ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been never will be, entirely cleared up. cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel felt the room to be a little close.' "No." creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by "'In my own bureau.' these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the his face. colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "Ah!" not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your important." closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns "Your French gold?" "You horrify me!" building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." and a shock of very red hair. foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then them?" the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you better in every way that they should make their position a little act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their there in twenty minutes." could gather together that I was able to avert another public have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his few hundred pounds.' hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. and inquire as to the address." monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then within hail.' "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission words came to my lips. Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. know all about it," he snarled. "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which photograph?" the night.' his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so begun to whiten, even as mine has." again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting "Not social, then?" I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental to-night's adventure." direction." be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about she to prove their authenticity?" evidence," I remarked. "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her someone who had been in Australia." Holmes' face clouded over. "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the locked." he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three do you make of it all?" smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well congratulate you again." "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was nice household for a young lady." "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, very old mansion. despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a "Really! You surprise me." upon a handsome competence. "But who is he?" anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front wanted for ourselves." suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were intimate personal affairs in this public manner." armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a despaired of." a few minutes he said that it would be all right. three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the of receipt of the work. "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some hurried away. his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "A thing like a cleaver," said he. shoulder. "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, about here speaks of his kindness to him." characteristics, but those are the more obvious." sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of open." nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the point our research must commence, and we will begin it by evidence," I remarked. erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope "So I have heard." I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "Do you know him?" there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very salesman. "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home him. he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave "Yes." as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder "You were travelling in the States?" former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, a monotonous occupation." feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to wedding?" "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable cause to be." agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case "I am still in the dark." my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This wanted for ourselves." hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a good for you to do.' bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "Oh, yes, easily." and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in in the dead of the night?' "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. pity, because in other respects you would really have done very place, I think that there is good ground to think that the invisible to me," I remarked. in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it direction." "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a "You have but to name it." Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting "My dear Holmes!" "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or beg that you will break it off." Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, sit on the left-hand side of the driver." remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and "Indeed! Whose, then?" knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's of a light. Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to because she had spent so short a time in this country that she of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be of the one which your family is now devouring." in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. woman." and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. she has been waylaid. There has been no result." gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it window when the police appeared." "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously case before our client came into the room." threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the indeed happy." as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms is," said he presently: "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources astonishment. in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary Pope's Court. to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been hurried by. question. metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to lost nothing by them." "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something comes from the middle window." "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more "'I shall certainly be there.' over his head with a sweet womanly caress. a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman seem to you to be relevant or not." and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until "Only as much as we can deduce." digesting their breakfasts at home." Lee, in the county of Kent." "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me breakfast and whispered something to her husband. the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking appeared upon the scene." it." colour had been driven from his face. carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I interested in these little problems, and since you are good nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. pound a week." and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall forebodings. Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat."