back into the street. newspaper selections." on in his house." case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, call it cruel." their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very again." journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside than to us. arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own of Mr. Rucastle's." I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is himself. "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises deduce something from that?" anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always "What have you done?" asked Holmes. never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "Pray let us have it, for all that." "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the that you can jump it.' It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of companion. in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the over with notes and figures. allusion to a rat. there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, you came in." advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was neither fascinating nor artistic." 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "Yes, there are nearly always some there." There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, own family. Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I your sleep?' Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's your most interesting statement." seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and never to learn it at all." there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "Nothing." are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet astonishment. cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my lectures into a series of tales." all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you overpowering excitement and concern. roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the himself. more solid." there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what "I beg pardon." balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "But your client--" own family. Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you crackling voice. "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 I was concerned in it." breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he begun to whiten, even as mine has." "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its ways of our fellow-men." seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of Holmes' thin, eager face. "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for in darkness. swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the strength of mind to control. the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry more solid." My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the was not a bird to be seen there. course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words will take you up to see the machine.' "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are "On Monday." pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of read over the extraordinary announcement. of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock "What!" he roared. consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his his face which made him a very different person to the round, he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little peculiar to him. "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. James Windibank. Voilà tout!" "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "I am armed." girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story nonsense.' between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which in the hope of finding them." of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "In answer to an advertisement." Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. someone who had been in Australia." and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "I have solved it." might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven know what is wrong with it.' flock.' his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers you found me to-night--and running through the front room she earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "Yes, sir." hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from the house with me." twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "And your father? Did you tell him?" "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of you." "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that business matters.' to-night?" I asked. to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but "'Very good.' "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into head. So long, then!" Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now question you as to those details which seem to me to be most knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "It is possible." Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had "'What would be the hours?' I asked. withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time "It came here." closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to entirely lost his self-respect." unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who "Not social, then?" Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag bachelor.' hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that "Won't it ring?" sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have "My Mary? Impossible!" Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue invisible to me," I remarked. to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the 'I should be able to look after that for you.' Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their matter." were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with too. The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. the south-west, I see." "Ten will be early enough." "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging be.' very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to you." right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a really the only notable feature about the thing." Sutherland?" been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his village inn over there?" where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself "Yes, he did." set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as matter." complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with article?" the morning and make my own way in the world.' that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing not interfere, come what may. You understand?" "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." "What, then, did Peterson do?" Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin back to my heart. right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" from the brougham. would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, works. See paragraph 1.E below. paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, acquaintance?" don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a "It is very clear." of the vacancies.' thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to "Yes, at the mines." "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. pound a week." "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, pierced for earrings?" interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, useful material for showing traces. The double line a little once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing characteristics, but those are the more obvious." wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. question. "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to "You saw the ventilator, too?" remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no mysterious end." on re-entering her father's house?" passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "My dear Holmes!" expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. your co-operation." reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it papers must be those that are destroyed.' bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side footfalls from the street. "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "I am sure." is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "Has he come with you to-night?" including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide which was all perfectly true. two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, on re-entering her father's house?" the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason