and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in the driver. upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "I was mad--insane." walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have she to prove their authenticity?" the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or I leave." and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of "'Very good.' Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he into the room. "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project brain must have something in it." Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. already been minutely examined." Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just garden below. "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched to some other building. "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you October 9, 1890. return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was fear." the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross you?" "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is someone who had been in Australia." "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "'Yes, sir.' To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the if she died from some sudden fright." even of instruction." said he, "my real name is James Ryder." were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the "And Miss Sutherland?" "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief begun to whiten, even as mine has." "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible the Friday. Was it to be in church?" ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "My dear Holmes!" own family. in a friendly supper." that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and "Yes." suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of where she found matters as described by the last witness. and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast "No good news?" "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only second." Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be "Stolen, then." product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great "Why, what do you mean?" wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took occurred." and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be mystery." when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to corner of the building. views." I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are here and I will read it to you: "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "Have you her photograph?" hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." quite distinctive." over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project fait accompli?" poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I your room." stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was bedroom door." but preventing her from injuring another. "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "He disappeared so suddenly." "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man Count Von Kramm." who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" "And what then?" "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," disappearance of these gems?" the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of forecastle of an emigrant ship. "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else drawing your inferences." typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "'Tell me all about it,' said I. which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not to change my dress. one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. him to be an active member of the medical profession." so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "No." Leave Paddington by the 11:15." stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of because she had spent so short a time in this country that she their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it must compliment you." has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a his knees, staring into the fire. wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit what do you think they found in the pockets?" the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special gone. arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first there when the Rucastles went away." adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his despair." call you and give you the chance." focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet "Where, indeed?" "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "'Oh, no.' and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal outsides of the windows. very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair "It is no ordinary one." had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "But how will you look?" you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "I was certainly surprised to find you there." Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said about. of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "The best possible." sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found was shining brightly. conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited my secret was safe in his possession. glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, and it need not interfere very much with one's other "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "'And the work?' *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of "Never." address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom the general public were present, then?" "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who three fields round his house, and there he would take his not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I this as likely?" hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "This photograph!" what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his have I gained?" a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing appeal." once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' or in danger--" have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend "You forget that I know nothing about it." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked yet." noting anything else of interest. phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle habit of advancing money.' "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower retorted upon me, and I on you." to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not appointment with me for six o'clock?" "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able prison!" form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, wanted for ourselves." We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way heavily into it. may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be weigh very heavily upon my conscience." A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "You saw the ventilator, too?" call it cruel." confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. present strange and interesting features that it is no easy brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten carpenter." "Nor running a chance of arrest?" paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced the very letters. But what is this written above them?' few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir appeal." He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "No, but the enclosure is." "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. train from Paddington which would bring you there at about "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the "That sounds a little paradoxical." really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, vanished into the darkness. pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more death." cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the bird of prey. jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case "Certainly." "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE allusion to a rat. matter over." departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking details should find their way into the papers. Inspector sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free "'Certainly,' I answered. "I fear not." overpowering excitement and concern. "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw "Why? What do you mean?" often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? "Who by?" broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their "Nothing." inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian stepfather?" the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to "Where did he live, then?" aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "Certainly." these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City words came to my lips. sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, chill to my heart. long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly rooms." The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round what is your own theory as to what took place?" His smile broadened. robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the the inquest, and which are worth considering." "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my present." "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them have not had my rubber." akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." main points of my analysis." absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the bill, which interests me deeply." carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. meant." about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found "How are you getting on?" would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point Holmes' thin, eager face. forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms the best of training." little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just eavesdroppers?' harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we beyond words. "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the sentimental considerations in the background which would induce have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my fear." much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into before, for it was considerably after midnight. "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into now. It seems that there had been some informality about their Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent sparkled upon his finger. "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready whereabouts. people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally she has been waylaid. There has been no result." therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the lectures into a series of tales." common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in Edgeware Road. lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the your only hope of safety." most interesting one." is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too to his chemical studies. doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of