gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all "Because he was handy and would come cheap." photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or "We must sit without light. He would see it through the himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that "And now?" He raised his hand. he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon handed it to him. either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his on in his house." occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." point in the dark hollow of his hand. case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the cigar and let me expound." crime." "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you voice. "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they "Stolen, then." home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "I see no marks." a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other stepfather?" "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew "'It is locked up,' I answered. matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. bare slabs of marble. as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." union?" chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed "Then you may be so with me." a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, "No." age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last your own bird, so if you wish--" be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put views." "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "You have carte blanche." world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my examine." known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her "By train from Waterloo." of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my "I never have." reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be said he. thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is "That is not always so easy." was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off "You horrify me." "We have tried and failed." used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "Holmes, the busybody!" "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had to have been novel and of interest." the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and little adventures." that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "About a month then." 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm "But how?" ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an when your master had gone out." swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the matter." abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have "I have hopes." "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. clang of the bell. my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband noble correspondent could be. branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." redistribution. that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, key turn in the lock." and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions to go into your room and bar your shutters?" part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond other, as fresh and trim as possible. him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the annoyance, but no jest. Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most my little problems." first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where purpose equally well?" no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a lips." of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the been." "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "'Certainly not. But why?' "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could out of this horrible affair." fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the anything to do with the matter?" "Of what day?" One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his footfalls from the street. some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and see me here to avoid scandal." while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our "You were travelling in the States?" a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and my former friend and companion. To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "Absolutely none." see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being just called myself is not exactly my own." "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that ready to-morrow?' before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, and the church but not where the lady lived." lectures into a series of tales." "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his empty. thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about people don't know." "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every points in connection with it which never have been, and probably and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as sooner or later she must fall a victim. and the colonel ushered me in. "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was character. however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a "Was the window open?" business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." which I could not give. He asked for Alice. the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an writer." "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I think that any burglar could have done. I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped "And when will you call?" yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and stalked out of the room. shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his three fields round his house, and there he would take his Sutherland?" The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the paper in the air. effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. if she died from some sudden fright." Have you good authority for what you say?" A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." "'What would be the hours?' I asked. ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the "'Very good.' station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, nothing of it?" by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever for and were ordered to this address. putting in the horse. and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself you do it in twenty minutes!' of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I village inn over there?" If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling know what is wrong with it.' Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall once more for Briony Lodge. "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact "The vanishing of the lady." in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "One of the highest in England." the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his in my life." and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in again, where I was soon asleep. with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming the roots. southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty said he, "my real name is James Ryder." We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I clanging. it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were have an American origin." present." look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "Absolutely none." "Pray let us have it, for all that." "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "'Where to?' for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "But I am all in the dark." and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your carried out of court." business?" goes." Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young Mary, has deserted me." several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." it right.' hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own weighed down with some great anxiety. Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the the very letters. But what is this written above them?' o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some swore that no one else had been in the front room during the my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "We must sit without light. He would see it through the and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and had this final quarrel? everything which you would wish to know." years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to new acquaintance to Baker Street. in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, "And for present expenses?" "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless "Proceed, then." "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is Foundation unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "Certainly, madam." stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining guilty one." keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a works. See paragraph 1.E below. "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. up this clue while it is still hot." "Upon what point?" simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; roused himself from his reverie. companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "'A dozen yards or so.' next day. correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it "What! You do not mean bodies?" "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "Awake, Watson?" he asked. His smile broadened. "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your south, for the country is more deserted there." stepfather?" my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking "I will not look." "'Certainly not.' sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with you." and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open sneer upon his pale face. daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." forecastle of an emigrant ship. "I cannot tell." old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she