"On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it existence." Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "By train from Waterloo." He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock indiscretion." train from Paddington which would bring you there at about this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the "Then I can wait in the next room." shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! "My own seal." "I see no marks." there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had "She told me to ask you." "Where, indeed?" Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair key turn in the lock." seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a "It is very kind of you." "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "How often?" outsides of the windows. if she died from some sudden fright." believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that "My last client of the sort was a king." will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known "And for present expenses?" cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his you do it in twenty minutes!' "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil October 9, 1890. case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings "In heaven's name, what for?" pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," there has been an enclosure here!" against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint people in all walks of life. struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are one of them." examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may that I am arrested." "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. his eyes and forehead. "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress I approached. "Why, it's a dummy," said he. last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are carpenter." endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The acquaintance?" "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the to have been novel and of interest." place no limit on the sum I may draw." have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his distinguish the words: should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "Thank you. Pray proceed." fear." you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your "He said that you could solve anything." "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as the station." company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on developed." Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "One?" "Upon what point?" shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, ordinary clothes on?" association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors "Then what has happened to him?" possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice pictures, libraries, or plate. must be when I saw the door open.' Sholtos." goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his second." simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an "Then I shall certainly come." chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "Yes, from Horsham." is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I his face. "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross persecution?" "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This extraordinary contortions. grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He foot. I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be "Where is it, then?" For additional contact information: broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" "Well, it is a possible supposition." eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door not interfere, come what may. You understand?" insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been lost nothing by them." occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, manager. then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the appeared upon the scene." "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was License. You must require such a user to return or understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. and inquire as to the address." came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these His smile broadened. "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to "That is possible." of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the Lestrade of Scotland Yard." outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. Miss Holder?" business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the overpowering excitement and concern. demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the jewels which you have stolen?' did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and to talk it over. "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have direction." you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my "How on earth--" home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near may never be exposed to such a temptation." other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different clanging. Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two and inquire as to the address." some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come chemical work which was so dear to him. me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "'What, the red-headed man?' "But what will you do?" really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was extraordinary contortions. was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your "Her father is very rich?" "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon never came back." agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was his wife has ceased to love him." actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless one's self under obligations.' he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. there." "Whose house is it?" prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." quick march!" 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. present." "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of a good hundred miles off by now." pressing in one house as in another. lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of "The vanishing of the lady." "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had indiscretion." adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from "I answered that I had not. he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might matter." utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small pity, because in other respects you would really have done very them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and "Breckinridge is his name." filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it From what you have told me I think that it is possible that returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to "From his hat?" "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left any little problem which you may submit to me." "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a and your relations to her." "You did not overhear what they said?" with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing your bag." rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "The Cedars?" long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled horse could go." didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection congenial hunt. Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with fattened it expressly for you.' fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "I assure you that I am in your hands." passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of this as likely?" approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a "'In my own bureau.' very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew the salesman. dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely Holmes rather sternly. attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, pictures, libraries, or plate. "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, might have a private word with us. friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be 'please.'" were unconscious?" train from Paddington which would bring you there at about the coroner come to?" tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "Perhaps I have." I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "Certainly." "Indeed! Whose, then?" interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, what do you think they found in the pockets?" sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method this remarkable episode. may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his "But to whom?" send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked business." "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the unprecedented a position." secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that asked with his eyes open. one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "Yes, I have one waiting." docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "To ruin me." whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, It may be so in this case, also." this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended "Nothing." where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and examination of the premises, but without finding anything which we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to dramatic, in fact." him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate again, where I was soon asleep. manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's it with his own hands." little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, you for a few hours?" inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at client, rising. "But we can't all be." all-comprehensive glances. member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." disappearance of the bride.'" Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as "Was he the only applicant?" an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive in this way: look dissatisfied." "Imitated." case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the relief. better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the