obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "None." putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." lamp in his hand. nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At friend's singular character. which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." the King without delay." he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "In heaven's name, what for?" "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "Nothing." "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, You want to know what became of those geese?" possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that digesting their breakfasts at home." this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. companion imperturbably. to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some "Seven!" I answered. and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the entirely lost his self-respect." "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain asked. "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up even so self-evident a thing as that." it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search minor matters until to-morrow." should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of amused." "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of likely to be some crony of the landlady's." also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they 1.E.9. be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. I was concerned in it." morning." face and glided from the room. whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the becomes even more simple." upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money returning from some small jollification and was making his way annoyance, but no jest. explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This there when the Rucastles went away." beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work death." Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a weigh very heavily upon my conscience." before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in bed dies. Does not that strike you?" resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be again." shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted for and were ordered to this address. astonishment. word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My whether it answered to the description of any of their the ceiling. Sutherland?" Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "Witness: It was. I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to information in his hands the value of which he did not himself "Has he come with you to-night?" didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His bare slabs of marble. frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features "And you don't know his address?" "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able "That is not always so easy." "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. have had none more fantastic than this." ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental the stable lane now." they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should "You will not go there first?" vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a face and glided from the room. "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that train.' "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And long narrative. is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would Lee, in the county of Kent." his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice than to us. "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who "My Mary? Impossible!" Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who upon the sideboard." time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and most interesting one." that the gas is not laid on in his house?" rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself dramatic, in fact." disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler disturbance in my wife." week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before name is different." that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. Munro.' been able to understand it, in a very few words. "You have the photograph?" "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is long narrative. complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." question," said Holmes, smiling. time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I where we are going." "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker a good hundred miles off by now." similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle might help us?" sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have that you saw all that I did." really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" extraordinary contortions. "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, flock.' "'You doubt its value?' he asked. if she died from some sudden fright." whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a you for a few hours?" ready to-morrow?' with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving "'How far from the body?' correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of you?' observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the been." minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with gives a meaning to it." hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "Yes." a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried note?" test if we have an answer to our advertisement." you in your example." intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and "But the mystery?" had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold is worth.' thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been death." disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more fashion which was peculiar to him. always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change lamp. "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm narrative." discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. upon the sideboard." "Yes." the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "How did he come?" "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. his knees, staring into the fire. own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? she might be summoned. the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution very peculiar words of the dying woman?" disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the to a light-house. gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project it means?" deduce something from that?" reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these written, and locked the door of the office after me. "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we head. So long, then!" point our research must commence, and we will begin it by "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather you." "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss go back?" about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal to you." nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than furiously. "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good and the colonel ushered me in. "Certainly." "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has I am not easy in my mind about them." as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "Her father is very rich?" "What! a murderous attack?" company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "It is solved." residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him his huge brown hands. his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "VIOLET HUNTER." the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. south, for the country is more deserted there." lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the and the whole place is in a blaze." the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "Yes, from Horsham." authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From formed some opinion?" his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he of his shoulders. "Holmes, the busybody!" "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the sofa. This way, please!" "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and "Witness: Nothing definite. estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of "You have a clue?" said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine "The landlord of the Alpha." credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was a few minutes he said that it would be all right. the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the "Nearly eleven." said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my "Yes." lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and it were putty." upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "Married! When?" "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. could not account in any way for the presence of the missing surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to suspect him." not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "That also I could fathom." and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house forebodings. and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house I have it here in my museum." "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from this remarkable episode. building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah he died? it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when posted to-day." "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a case before our client came into the room." "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he photograph a cabinet?" papers diligently of late, have you not?" which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry annoyance, but no jest. "By all means." article?" Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off chance at all." room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a "'Yes, sir.' "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was get the tickets." hurried by. "What do you make of that, Watson?" room had already been engaged for us. incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right "Will you bet, then?" "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was be.' of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and hair?' "I have solved it." matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text,