counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come matter over." Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. heavy and sharp instrument." "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "She showed me, as I told you she would." "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at morning." only touch the interest." with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I man. "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. giving me time to thank him. reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no From what you have told me I think that it is possible that "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such so far?" on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "Dirty?" IS cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. one which it was hard to resist. done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the "Only as much as we can deduce." idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the that there was nothing in it, after all." business matters.' "Quite so." afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. tail." "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the "But how did you gain them?" and the church but not where the lady lived." "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." carriage. It was a chestnut." that, and I came down." Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from some city in a dream. point our research must commence, and we will begin it by chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. have an American origin." excitement. and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again call you and give you the chance." villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "I say that I have solved it." Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view "Yes." pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would of Fenchurch Street." "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his hereditary King of Bohemia." opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would newspaper selections." met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "What! a murderous attack?" the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he think you a quite exceptional woman." Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the to tell." there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands your most interesting statement." specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business my friend's incisive reasoning. 11:15.' I. noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and him!" myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "Do you know him?" logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother "'Never,' said I. "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for "'Tell me all about it,' said I. My friend smiled. telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "You'll never persuade me to believe that." open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "I cannot as yet see any connection." "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. "Yes." "Certainly, madam." said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge own family. to a light-house. red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; wedding?" daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "Why serious?" tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I passage and a tap at the door. you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a goes." his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his It may be so in this case, also." analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is we went to search for him, face downward in a little direction." suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I do." were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second astonishment. snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and married her." then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself once more for Briony Lodge. been able to understand it, in a very few words. play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project placed his cuttings. caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into likely to be some crony of the landlady's." disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other the morning and make my own way in the world.' seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me fact, we may call it conclusive." and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from The telegram which we eventually received came late one night I think that I could be of assistance to you." "He might." "He is still with you, I presume?" Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not of this gang." all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view chill to my heart. such person." will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your lost nothing by them." she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where at my remark. secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." posted to-day." "And for present expenses?" heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it "'Never,' said I. "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and "When did she vanish, then?" "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. "This concluded the examination of the witness." rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies that you can jump it.' hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the "It looks newer than the other things?" cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers Eyford at 11:15.' or in danger--" when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it upon an income of about 60 pounds." "What can you not understand?" secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I without success. At last the little money which I had saved began "Do you know him?" "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been to talk it over. squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the "'What are you doing there?' he asked. expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" note?" "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "It is very clear." "He said too much." "No sign of it?" that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable despaired of." common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram know what is wrong with it.' a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment one of them." Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose outbreak?" companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. introspective fashion. which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, "He disappeared so suddenly." should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed "My dear Holmes!" sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the indeed happy." editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand three of the beryls in it, was missing. "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "My dear Holmes!" refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "At what time?" father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making the devil!" "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would yourselves in at night?" "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "No." easy-going way." "May I see it?" called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been you." Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the coroner's jury." "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove cup of tea. "Do you know him?" "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "'Yes, I promise.' digesting their breakfasts at home." "He said that you could solve anything." he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his His name is Francis Prosper." his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and "I know where it is." Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and about here speaks of his kindness to him." slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "And why?" grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "That was it, sir." "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an "It is possible." dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "No, I think that I'll take it." "A confidential servant?" All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands "Look there!" said he. father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a "Nearly eleven." Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of seem to you to be relevant or not." was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, "'Stolen!' he cried. perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "One of his hands." "And what then?" Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." spare." beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full shaken than I had ever seen him. superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some http://www.gutenberg.net "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "It must be recovered." far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in of them has the shutters up.' "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "Were they all fastened this morning?" Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "'Certainly not.' "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you chair. will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. whereabouts. ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "And how did you find out?" For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that chill to my heart. their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his south, for the country is more deserted there." saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that