have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend one of the states of the Union." strength in the others." with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem "What steps will you take?" I asked. absolutely follow my advice in every respect." them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I "'Ample.' "And Irene Adler?" "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting "And why in hopes?" there is a decided draught." glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with horse could go." gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' late." mystery may be cleared along those lines." "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am dates and names. "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied "Tired-looking or fresh?" conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, tightly behind him. not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right "Pray be precise as to details," said he. hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, "At the wedding breakfast." rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "You are hungry," I remarked. ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so "I see no marks." "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction 'please.'" coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as your bag." pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "I cannot think." estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I "I never have." even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special "'Stolen!' he cried. snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his fashion which was peculiar to him. with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." to some other building. "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less tell them apart.' he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do "I would pay ten." case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the such attractions and accomplishments?' speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes bare slabs of marble. Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" Clair, of Lee." eat it." other lovers by making love himself." upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a in the hope of finding them." "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it figure." that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." "Will you go?" imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I stepfather?" sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing of a light. companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known will find little credit to be gained out of this case." greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a records." and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. "'I have heard so.' sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use fuss that is made over them." this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting me what he had done with the three missing stones. "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about that he has suffered." have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to "She told me to ask you." "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, had picked up in the wood. "Very truly yours, "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his she slowly sank and died without having recovered her fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor if I call to-morrow?" on in his house." again before evening." shall use the carriage to-night." weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "I cannot tell." placed his cuttings. minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a foresight and the moral retrogression?" "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the signal between you and your father? what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and matter." in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent Sutherland?" "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you your room." "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined depend upon your compliance." separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as away into the river." "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous something of him before." offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again business came to an end." some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, father's young wife. "'What would be the hours?' I asked. comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He "And for present expenses?" "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the jewels which you have stolen?' and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted seem to you to be relevant or not." have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter that the gas is not laid on in his house?" The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had shoulder; "he's all right." were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been figure." robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something that?' some city in a dream. sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One "A greater distance to travel." came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some of." "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "Yes." done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily neither fascinating nor artistic." which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you new duties?' Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis bedroom door." have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, the Friday. Was it to be in church?" as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, "But what harm can there be in that?" had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing goes." it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have "It is his hat." enter into my head. "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel of receipt of the work. buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in "It is to him that this trophy belongs." much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same too. "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. mystery!" former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some during the last few years, and there are many noble families to the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding outbreak?" "And from a noble client?" metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the name is different." isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it "That is possible." intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "I cannot tell." License. You must require such a user to return or "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "Really! You surprise me." The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." you." look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements business at Coburg Square is serious." any little problem which you may submit to me." unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. "What of the rat, then?" during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the the station." "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his lumber-room." happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard kind enough to tell me what I should do." as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses it." thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your arrested. You then--" "We must sit without light. He would see it through the the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the Does that suggest anything?" License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most Pool. should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face once more to my work. you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became Sholtos." he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and morning." we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without will take you up to see the machine.' "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, narrative." "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It Holmes' thin, eager face. exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really the very letters. But what is this written above them?' away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely whole matter to your consideration." other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had go from here to the Strand." were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "In which, sir?" problems help me to do so." until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may me." "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to come either from the window or the door. My attention was process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. hard-headed British jury." hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide you." "She told me to ask you." "Pray do so." "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he nonsense.' questioning and rather startled gaze. was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, you in your example." doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, yet." "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has into the room. be best to do. "Very much so." "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried the matter." My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, 'I should be able to look after that for you.' some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at little trying to do so much typewriting?" could go. dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured bare slabs of marble. appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "He said too much." among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since locked. nonsense.' "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we "I see no marks." highly," said Holmes. laugh and put his lips to my ear. long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose ready to-morrow?' throat." "But I am all in the dark." visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. room?" "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and the station." prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let been with you?" "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "Yes, certainly." in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without