have been better. It is all right." bill, which interests me deeply." "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as what these perils are?" lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left interested in these little problems, and since you are good "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 carriage. It was a chestnut." Countess of Morcar's?" hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I learned something! Where are the gems?" "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' heavy and sharp instrument." newspaper selections." old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your test if we have an answer to our advertisement." ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been strong and stiff." leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: with you?" propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' "Dark enough and sinister enough." "I beg pardon." and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a returning from some small jollification and was making his way name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa main points of my analysis." the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure lectures into a series of tales." to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I up this clue while it is still hot." beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a "'I have heard so.' at once, for I have only half an hour." "You think that he is dead?" considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical never came back." to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." back alive. "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and must compliment you." look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man "Is he quiet?" one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "'I shall certainly be there.' open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they "Where, then?" call for it in person on Monday morning.' wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in "It surprised me." gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We a little more before I quite committed myself. "Have you her photograph?" Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "The gentleman I describe." stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my "I know where it is." The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said followed. The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon our word." "How about poison?" aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you know what is wrong with it.' always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear "I cannot tell." would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an acquaintance?" "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of "Why did you beat the pavement?" plantation.' end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, closing the door. seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it call for it in person on Monday morning.' habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." "Very well, sir. And this stone?" highroad, where all traces were lost. companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. vanished into the darkness. peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who "She showed me, as I told you she would." is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our "I think it very unlikely." against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "'Ample.' "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence License. You must require such a user to return or "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. "I should wish to." America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little Clair, of Lee." behind me. reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR The telegram which we eventually received came late one night the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly vault. practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. me. You must get home instantly and act." above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the mystery." Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you you in yours." him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He "He said too much." "I shall most certainly do so." dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir hair?' will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no other, as fresh and trim as possible. protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "What can you not understand?" He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet "'I am sure if I had known--' We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic could go. lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "But of what society?" shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, national property. I was determined that the law should have its way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, breakfast?" lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very to tell." "Will you bet, then?" About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has "Will you go?" send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "At the wedding breakfast." were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed bird I ate is country bred." "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "Who was the criminal, then?" France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from "Where, then?" 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and "The Cedars?" suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being yourselves in at night?" him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" respectable self." 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given redistribution. "Then you may entirely rely on me." rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got legal crime." banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until Leave Paddington by the 11:15." little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of will take you up to see the machine.' I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her in the hope of finding them." was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "Thank you. And your address?" midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: questioning and rather startled gaze. with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "How long did she speak to this Alice?" thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge of this gang." and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this "In heaven's name, what for?" thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. floor. face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out him and tried to hold him back. "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from be sorry for having acted so harshly." woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, you in yours." in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. occupations.' hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the was it brought him the coronet? the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. ways including including checks, online payments and credit card "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' tell them apart.' week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "The best possible." "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "Yes, sir." Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, learned something! Where are the gems?" that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be joking. 1.F. but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was his cane at the bell-pull. never to learn it at all." "It was an hour's good drive." you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "She walked into the breakfast-room." "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my are, and they are waiting for us." "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a Serpentine Avenue. "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the shall use the carriage to-night." concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared friends, not even his own brother. is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in before, for it was considerably after midnight. "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing the morning and make my own way in the world.' seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were that the gas is not laid on in his house?" shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' eat it." which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to that you saw all that I did." Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of enough to aid us in our search." "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and the nursery. "And how?" when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so arrested. You then--" do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "Yes, it was twisted." will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive it." appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences in my life." "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "Oh, fresh and glossy." travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he bonnet, and went out." "Who by?" Project Gutenberg-tm works. he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. way: stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the rose-bushes. corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 "You did not overhear what they said?" see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught information in his hands the value of which he did not himself "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room dates and names. case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. http://gutenberg.net/license). "Thank you. And your address?" and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a "'What are you doing there?' he asked. problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That John Swain, of St. Augustine. such person." tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. "'Is 4 pounds a week.' immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it sound at heart." "No?" if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight works. See paragraph 1.E below. and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks,