and capable of preserving a secret.' means taking possession of that which another person has a prior her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been "I was afraid that you were engaged." "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the details should find their way into the papers. Inspector permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." here and I will read it to you: reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in digesting their breakfasts at home." with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the "Will you bet, then?" used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of case before our client came into the room." tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the "By no means." dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I on in his house." tell him that I know him to be innocent." was it brought him the coronet? brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing "The Cedars?" Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me "Have you her photograph?" a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand "Do you go out much in society?" "It is no ordinary one." inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with "Of Friday, June 19th." home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "Perfectly so." "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, reach." slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "Very well, sir. And this stone?" bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "I beg pardon." I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." tell them apart.' explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. and files of the old papers, following the future career of every best detective that ever lived. form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." "You are certainly joking, Holmes." There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any "You will not go there first?" "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a any little problem which you may submit to me." "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "I was sure that I might rely on you." me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of "Do you receive much company?" he asked. what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and undoubtedly my uncle's." magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us "It was." dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! "Come in!" said he. yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "No, but the enclosure is." right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I "We have tried and failed." brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at flock.' the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. are, and they are waiting for us." "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking Holmes." his face which made him a very different person to the round, down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this letters?" said he at last. "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. of note-paper. It read in this fashion: these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, said he. most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called "Well, it is a possible supposition." "'There is a drive, then?' gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this residence of the great financier. "Perhaps I have." "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. "What!" he roared. he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have fashion which was peculiar to him. the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "And Irene Adler?" A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our me upon any point which I do not make clear." multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom "What, then, did Peterson do?" glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him business." above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to was once confined in the cab my mission was practically of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, could go. "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress bonnet, and went out." only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." good for you to do.' music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his answered with a sidelong glance. "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock DISSOLVED. These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One girl said." in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her if I call to-morrow?" on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the over with notes and figures. always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of "Very well, sir. And this stone?" "Married! When?" "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his dead, shall be safe with us." We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague jewels which you have stolen?' similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "It is his hat." manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue "Yes." would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." breakfast?" "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, been able to understand it, in a very few words. and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full "I say that I have solved it." drove away. rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building "Where, then, is my wife?" carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was "I say it is." the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted "But you would not advise me to refuse?" sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have outside." companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black business?" "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, drove away. St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as to-morrow." "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. "What have you done?" asked Holmes. glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and I shall continue with my miserable story. "And help." be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief During two years I have had three consultations and one small "I guessed as much." "Yes, from Horsham." really the only notable feature about the thing." "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to "And what then?" statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign enter Dr. Roylott's room." was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away light and attacked it." pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close call for protection in the marriage market, for the present here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very all?" even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special right! Sit down and let us talk it over." a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I upon a handsome competence. man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon away to you." "He disappeared so suddenly." hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own "Nor running a chance of arrest?" hands. having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a bearing upon the case." despair." was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; "How do you know, then?" call for it in person on Monday morning.' Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read there when the Rucastles went away." a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much walking." of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up to-night." at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a "Yes." "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can people don't know." centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money asked. me what he had done with the three missing stones. facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. until night should bring an explanation. wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "What then?" It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "And how did you verify them?" side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his been lifted and conveyed somewhere." every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, see a sister of mine apply for." "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very awaited us upon the table. over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but "You heard nothing yourself last night?" where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, coroner's jury." it were putty." pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "But the mystery?" steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which tightly behind him. and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in status with the IRS. round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "She told me to ask you." wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and "Then I am your man." "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the room. his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "Just look it up, then." had picked up in the wood. As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might