in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "No bad?" "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "He said that you could solve anything." place no limit on the sum I may draw." recover the gem." informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." simple cases which are so extremely difficult." did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. you, my dear young lady?' Edgeware Road. "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the spark where all is dark to me." you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been morning." said I. that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the "I have hopes." slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and "Why, what do you mean?" or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "Yes, he did." As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my brandy and water within his reach. at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers you." been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves "But what is it you wish?" "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. whether it answered to the description of any of their this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning bonnet, and went out." than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you in the dead of the night?' feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with so.' "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss sentimental considerations in the background which would induce colour had been driven from his face. Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could business?" could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in has little to do with my story." life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger and prosperity to your house. Good-night." "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & know that the truth is known." rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my the driver. "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." already been minutely examined." know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that used to be." His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? searched, without anything being found which could incriminate The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there strength." said I. "I am following you closely," I answered. those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my "And when will you call?" France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then prepare for the new role I have to play." "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able cost them two and thirty pounds." which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other "No." subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "Not in the least." "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The "Yes, he did." and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the woman who has had her own way to make in the world. past. should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of I have it here in my museum." But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "My dear Holmes!" place no limit on the sum I may draw." I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love to-night?' even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be became a certainty. the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is "Absolutely none." Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate corner of the building. Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my been anything against him. He had for years been known as a chill to my heart. "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this of." He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "'Ten to two.' side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow and it need not interfere very much with one's other It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his interest. They are important, you understand, without being the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "That is also quite modern," said the lady. in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, never will be, entirely cleared up. "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "'Most admirably.' wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies "His face fell immediately. The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had definite end. "Oh, yes, easily." "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. "Oh, yes, easily." was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "To an end?" professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." your room." house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the not come at once?" would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such where she found matters as described by the last witness. garden below. chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body seen the man in the road." best detective that ever lived. Sutherland?" as the one I chose?' hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and new acquaintance to Baker Street. home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "I see no marks." their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "That is also quite modern," said the lady. do." only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very your only hope of safety." "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he yards of it?' the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself rooms." frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' My friend smiled. as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" pierced for earrings?" a little more before I quite committed myself. is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider it? Did I buy the geese off you?" done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a open." and shall probably return to London by the evening train." "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That "One horse?" interjected Holmes. framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than "I have seen the police." in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "But his lameness?" round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias his forehead." "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly security.' carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. "How often?" eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of "Perhaps I have." surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love hopeless attempt at recovering them." in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "And how?" With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked indeed happy." "I say it is." unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever carriage. It was a chestnut." inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just matter over." were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave to go into your room and bar your shutters?" in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." evidence," I remarked. has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE more solid." receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy soul! here is her carriage at the door." some place of shelter and let the county police know what has "'And the work?' "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was down in his armchair and closing his eyes. dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that weary and pale-looking. as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, singular points about the case. What did the police think of the daring than any effort of the imagination." gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate as this. Pray let me have the details." enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "Yes." "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon you, my dear young lady?' Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of could go. blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. woman." on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' papers diligently of late, have you not?" married her." "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could His smile broadened. assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of and the colonel ushered me in. "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the The King stared at him in amazement. resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "One horse?" interjected Holmes. of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by you, my dear young lady?' outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens "Stolen, then." cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The with the outside air!" every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten some mystery and the punishment of some crime." The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "Because he was handy and would come cheap." no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he eavesdroppers?' and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "Will you bet, then?" new duties?' "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out instituted." sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep "None." very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it are, and they are waiting for us." the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will which it had come upon my father." "Well?" Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an and inquire as to the address." that I may have something better before very many minutes are an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must them?" man. Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement narrative." thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. easy-going way." loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER."