"These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it ventilator." beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate the iron safe, which he closed upon it. "And how did he make his money?" "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no never came back." arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." asked. "Stoke Moran?" said he. go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he his face. "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both "Breckinridge is his name." reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united occupations.' but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a "'How far from the body?' "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so little adventures." ourselves in the office." he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a chambers. been shamefully used." really the only notable feature about the thing." appeared upon the scene." The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend know what is wrong with it.' found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed it." from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, peculiar to him. for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "Nothing." examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I formed some opinion?" which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is remarked. "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears used to be." I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." his grey eyes. upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "I don't believe it." Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was it with his own hands." furiously. Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "'What, the red-headed man?' "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand this remarkable episode. matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious did not hear it also.' constraint." my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything morning." stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. Eyford." "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside several quiet little villages up there." master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the troubles have been weighing upon his mind. the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, bill, which interests me deeply." body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had them?" The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master time." "Witness: Nothing definite. "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here "We have tried and failed." http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be "Not social, then?" matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the weighed down with some great anxiety. "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." constraint." looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm chambers. 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to stammered. at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." "You have compromised yourself seriously." Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, night.' said he. The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. in one or two places in England?' The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a people don't know." "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. stammered. "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" the matter." moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now "Dirty?" green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain and a shock of very red hair. suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, "I will not look." is so. I know all about McCarthy." the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, bachelor.' carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain a very grave face. the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. "It is half-past ten now." "But how?" against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." "Certainly, madam." active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project photograph a cabinet?" would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four said I. "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" "The Coroner: What do you mean? appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped lectures into a series of tales." beg that you will break it off." "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out there in twenty minutes." the little opening for the ventilator is." shadow pass over his face as I spoke. day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were had died away into the silence from which it rose. like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. respectable self." "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out "I guessed as much." confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously back into the street. harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, "Thank you. And your address?" return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began of his shoulders. McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have murdered man." in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and sneer upon his pale face. "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, the ceiling. his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of maid will bring up your coffee." young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we License. You must require such a user to return or purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "Precisely." aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice "But you would not advise me to refuse?" "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this notes," he said. "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the is four-and-twenty." to tell." in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is exactly what you advise." "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his paper in the air. have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after Sholtos." and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either of the way of danger. that you wished to speak to me?' skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic coroner's jury." to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done late." is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." not interfere, come what may. You understand?" "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. happened." Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." and all of them with the keenest interest. "She told me to ask you." near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as he bowed and left the room without another word. "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even sake, don't!" "I am about to be married." deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would presented which may be striking and bizarre without being You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to me, and I could not think that his explanation of the has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang "Why did you beat the pavement?" sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, looking up at the numbers of the houses." Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be peculiar to him. spare." never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the salesman. dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not when you have done it." 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "Of Friday, June 19th." "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed the matter." blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "'I have already given you my word.' that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "When did she vanish, then?" maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful "Where, then, is my wife?" Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You fashion which was peculiar to him. "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, "It is solved." there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. mystery." glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a place of silver." have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would with you?" relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "I cannot imagine." "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to him and tried to hold him back. tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given the very morning of the wedding." "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story "Ample." tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A The telegram which we eventually received came late one night I was concerned in it." opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "Has he come with you to-night?" some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been chance at all." chair. "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "I should wish to." attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found examination of the premises, but without finding anything which "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the disappearance of the bride.'" always that they were such commands as a lady might with round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and within hail.' to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, the date of his supposed suicide." the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones felt the room to be a little close.' upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "I see many objections to any such theory." deduce something from that?" carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the "'Stolen!' he cried. You can understand that this register and diary may implicate was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of most important business. It is probable that he will be away all in. "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being "'And what are they worth?' I asked. spark where all is dark to me." instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which few hundred pounds.' "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "Thank you. Pray proceed." which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told weapon." yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, "My dear Holmes!" my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I been able to understand it, in a very few words. "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he is a common subject for conversation. To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "Imitated." much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right "In heaven's name, what for?" cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock and laid it on the table. "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence "Awake, Watson?" he asked. the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "Witness: Nothing definite. I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as later, upon the night of May 2nd." stepfather?" came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name "What do you mean?" Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third room had already been engaged for us. be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and "I should wish to." Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "Ten will be early enough." Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "I was afraid that you were engaged." starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do