here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must John Swain, of St. Augustine. back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "This concluded the examination of the witness." up this clue while it is still hot." had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. come either from the window or the door. My attention was your Highness to the police-station?" recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide you in your example." beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It you found me to-night--and running through the front room she "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to go from here to the Strand." This is what he says: "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "It was an hour's good drive." As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office to-night." comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "Yes." "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen depend upon your compliance." In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The you give your casting vote to?" unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, strength of mind to control. diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "And Irene Adler?" are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." which it had come upon my father." copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all so far?" 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this the south-west, I see." the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "At the wedding breakfast." village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "In answer to an advertisement." now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but "'Is purely nominal.' part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black shaken than I had ever seen him. the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." Dr. Gregory B. Newby last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has you." "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "Where to?" fuss that is made over them." walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling side. thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus "'Which dealer's?' in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "Come in!" said he. "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "No. What a strange idea!" "'Yes.' Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of hands. "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he least a most suspicious remark." have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a not interfere, come what may. You understand?" the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." "What?" my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was page at http://pglaf.org after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must "What are they?" "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "'Yes, sir.' looking up at the numbers of the houses." "Nothing." Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "It surprised me." "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a villagers almost as much as their master. Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I pressing in one house as in another. hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to II. as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of look dissatisfied." was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly other means.' rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so "That is it on the dressing-table." while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather "Was there a secret marriage?" "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that of the one which your family is now devouring." on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and upon the sideboard." "Really! You surprise me." news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We could go. indeed which he could not unravel. remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most "None. Neville wrote those words." him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that "Yes." neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg I was concerned in it." here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were derbies." immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "You horrify me." "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas "'Quite sure, dad.' the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his said he at last. works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a girl said." Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur "Yes. He waved his hands." "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, "'About the same.' word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. are, and they are waiting for us." darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his questionable one." "'I shall certainly be there.' salesman. when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no became a certainty. that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In at a side door. bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the "Then I do not see the point." mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge "You have compromised yourself seriously." gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door whatever might befall. fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "But I am all in the dark." value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the them?" the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, colonel looking down at me. cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from "Yes. He waved his hands." if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as during the last few years, and there are many noble families to known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us tear off another piece?' every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely shaken than I had ever seen him. feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when "You have it, sir, just as it happened." beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and so.' pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been "You will not go there first?" unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know when your master had gone out." It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his His name is Francis Prosper." reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked just ask you whether you had heard it.' a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it distance from the station, and there we found the young lady for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing to-morrow." but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I the King without delay." fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive "But what harm can there be in that?" the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will "It is possible." "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I point our research must commence, and we will begin it by own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his deduce something from that?" but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "By train from Waterloo." street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "I am sure." face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for His name is Francis Prosper." the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from pressing in one house as in another. all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "Here?" "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "I cannot as yet see any connection." "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "I would give my fortune to have them back." the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "In San Francisco, a year ago." our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a hair?' "I will do it." inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came This is what he says: "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "Ha! you find it so?" "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "A client, then?" comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "And now?" I asked. our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to disappearance of the bride.'" time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been man. returned to France?" He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "Yes?" Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little pity, because in other respects you would really have done very hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, time." were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my "So I have heard." "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." "I will not look." considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point had picked up in the wood. gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than hour?' bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my felt the room to be a little close.' has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." whether it answered to the description of any of their passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to My friend smiled. whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as against a man in the prime of life?" having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting rooms." examination of the premises, but without finding anything which "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend been." muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful "Where, then?" bore every mark of being an average commonplace British problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon prison!" a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California "Where, then, is my wife?" ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. that "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was ways of our fellow-men." where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "No good news?" snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length "She walked into the breakfast-room." three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. lips." massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking a room. bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which "'Is purely nominal.' "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and this man was intellectual?" Holmes' face clouded over. that I may have something better before very many minutes are Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to means taking possession of that which another person has a prior troubles have been weighing upon his mind. body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, here and I will read it to you: surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to