promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was "No, but the enclosure is." foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De 'I should be able to look after that for you.' finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and "But how?" opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. "Which are?" into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch way: apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her may never be exposed to such a temptation." wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each success. though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes delighted to hear it," he said. will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm ran thus: "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he me what he had done with the three missing stones. game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for the Friday. Was it to be in church?" all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a certainly not very gracious." "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It "What do you mean?" thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining suspect him." But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had spare." brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly the coroner come to?" head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I "My stepfather's business papers." about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some "Come in!" said he. there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a throat." Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "But how?" you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is friends, not even his own brother. "Nothing." and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing there has been an enclosure here!" we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but "No." and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune man. address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon union?" the devil!" began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too to-morrow." 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner is now desirous of getting those letters back." It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out papers on the sundial.'" through." grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "Thank you. And your address?" in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped "Entirely." to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable will find little credit to be gained out of this case." "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then obstinate." may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to "'Why that?' I asks. concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. distinguish the words: "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my "He said that you could solve anything." most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that said he at last. fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' bird of prey. bled considerably." thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "Thank you. And your address?" some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter prepare for the new role I have to play." take the flies, but not before." seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been it means?" money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "But the mystery?" adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it digesting their breakfasts at home." "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no outside. insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King country, and eventually married, without anyone having a Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down "What will you do, then?" weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off the armchair which I pushed forward for him. tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we believe that I should never have any practice at all. have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature "He said that you could solve anything." being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms "'Certainly not. But why?' hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "Do you go out much in society?" held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. deduce something from that?" exactly what you advise." into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my mystery." suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do one else, I think." came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming written, and locked the door of the office after me. "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we have got?" "In answer to an advertisement." as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a weapon." be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save in. Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, the matter?" legal crime." "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take everything which you would wish to know." him." as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have locked. in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be acted in my house last night?" "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. have established a very serious case against the son of the and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four the so-precious time, but come!' him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but promised to bring home. The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy dead, shall be safe with us." for the market.' over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the the Friday. Was it to be in church?" into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the we went to search for him, face downward in a little I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of existence." chance." everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and as yours." thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been outside." appointment with me for six o'clock?" "Yes, sir." circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been "I see many objections to any such theory." "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" pictures, libraries, or plate. swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended country, and eventually married, without anyone having a "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet "Two days later this same performance was gone through under lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his Street. 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." been anything against him. He had for years been known as a very old mansion. him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been that I am arrested." push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a "I am all attention, madam." considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences own family. you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is morning." "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "I promise," said Holmes. of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, the inner apartment." plantation.' Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. should be so warm over such a trifle." "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "And why in hopes?" road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case not within a twentieth part of the market price." methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other more solid." admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" is worth.' leave you to your papers for a little." "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, of receipt of the work. "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." Have you good authority for what you say?" dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He child?' "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and will take you up to see the machine.' state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, bonnet, and went out." Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I "Your sister is dead, then?" B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "Yes, certainly." "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do through." town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for "From his hat?" you." met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature "I will get her to show me." Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. "Not I." remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." "Then you may entirely rely on me." the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend call for it in person on Monday morning.' started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from I shall communicate with you." when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your that you saw all that I did." of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have once more to my work. horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim once more to my work. call you and give you the chance." "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. had this final quarrel? bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, The events in question occurred in the early days of my "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from them, and came down just as you departed. think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and "'About the same.' has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents second window is the one that I jumped from." lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, tell him that I know him to be innocent." "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts "How did that help you?" happened." Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' simple cases which are so extremely difficult." "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his quickly through a disagreeable task. really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will like that before?" "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot disappearance of the bride.'" swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's "And the murderer?" daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless "Yes." Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other purpose of examination. little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about "It missed him, then?" always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has Literary Archive Foundation little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure have I gained?" carriage. It was a chestnut." home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in frequently gained my first real insight into the character of His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been Edgeware Road. "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say