fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be status with the IRS. "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it "My dear Holmes!" ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" said I. will not take me long to tell. his cane at the bell-pull. them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the the very letters. But what is this written above them?' takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note "'Not at all. I only doubt--' upon the shelf for the interim." again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," assist you in forming an opinion." delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent gentleman's clothes. met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly said he. The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the appeal." access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if of his shoulders. from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a shoulder; "he's all right." Sutherland?" afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" "To an English lawyer named Norton." round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to was not a bird to be seen there. views." thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get in one or two places in England?' the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and "But to whom?" "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, annoyance, but no jest. out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock minor matters until to-morrow." now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to "Yes." "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the forebodings. do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" next day. cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to for its centre. "But what is it you wish?" charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." unclasping of his long thin hands. with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never "No, distinctly professional." incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while questionable one." to that open window." "I cannot tell." experiences." doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I at home. near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction at once, for I have only half an hour." difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a on in his house." at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. me what he had done with the three missing stones. Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something will find little credit to be gained out of this case." good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could me where it went to?" for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was astonishment. "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, I have it here in my museum." "But what will you do?" out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival yards of it?' stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing "Yes, from Horsham." forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, not come at once?" "But she will refuse." commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window drawing your inferences." gone before you can get him to hospital." fatally injured? should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all national property. I was determined that the law should have its "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud I shall continue with my miserable story. strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with "What do you make of that, Watson?" and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "And what did you see?" hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider to have been novel and of interest." patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "Yes, certainly." houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I jewels which you have stolen?' "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "Were they all fastened this morning?" agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square "Was the window open?" things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning written. 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us opened a pocket-book and took out a note. "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly think that he is innocent?" fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond the running down." pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of this remarkable episode. now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very "And now?" I asked. happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there writer." which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped "And I." seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. "Who by?" "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are I have it here in my museum." the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note morning." as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the a little more before I quite committed myself. the little opening for the ventilator is." of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This "So I heard. You have him here?" us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in III. consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the for its centre. yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this light and attacked it." wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of "Really! You surprise me." "But he might be a bachelor." "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "When did she vanish, then?" frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which "Yes, that is the Crown." the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, in a friendly supper." "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. entirely devoid of interest." fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." south, for the country is more deserted there." its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the introspective fashion. affection." "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' his fortune, and I went back to pa. mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, who was a member of your goose club." "Because he was handy and would come cheap." "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That observed. possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all affair. was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house "'What, the red-headed man?' to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter as yours." unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become where Mr. Fordham shows you.' Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an mysterious end." dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were "Whose house is it?" drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian of this gang." "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which "Breckinridge is his name." turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, For additional contact information: "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his standing smiling on the door-step. "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. it." the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand of." weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his window when the police appeared." "Yes." for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an I nodded to show that I had heard. of a light. without success. At last the little money which I had saved began Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address "Get out!" said he. It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still ventilator." "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for the running down." he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "What do you mean?" gone. http://gutenberg.net/license). Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "How can you tell that?" we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could chance at all." upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the "What do you mean?" and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of burst into a hearty fit of laughter. her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling the side-table." "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut go back?" to arrive at through this?" used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the where she found matters as described by the last witness. The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which to take care of herself." much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in Serpentine Avenue. his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his and that he would see to anything that turned up. present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been deduce something from that?" Arthur Conan Doyle logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. "I have a cab outside." me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the amused." served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after than was visible to me." "No." light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable washing it down with a long draught of water. envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been