King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too "My own seal." "That you are never beaten." "What do you mean?" long narrative. the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his noise which awoke you from your sleep?" blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an maid will bring up your coffee." man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "And on what day did he meet his death?" upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, appeared upon the scene." reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the carriage. It was a chestnut." have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss congenial hunt. voice. "The vanishing of the lady." a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper your most interesting statement." to tell." the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project are, and they are waiting for us." lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers "Seven!" I answered. keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him opportunities to fix the problem. half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned "Seven!" I answered. walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable unclasping of his long thin hands. "Of Friday, June 19th." felt?" last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be said he at last. thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying there!' again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and putting in the horse. inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men "I am following you closely," I answered. as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: "Yes, all." I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "In what way?" asked Holmes. you for a few hours?" "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is death." "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the thought that she would have been so carried away." she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to during the last few years, and there are many noble families to acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, "And your mother is alive?" many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it "Then I can wait in the next room." explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "Whose house is it?" your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded third from London." Arthur Conan Doyle I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But weigh very heavily upon my conscience." walking." your room." opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of absolutely follow my advice in every respect." nonsense.' "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We promised to bring home. "And I to find an enemy." years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, suggested at once that there must be a communication between the responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" several quiet little villages up there." "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling bird of prey. Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He giving me time to thank him. think that any burglar could have done. conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall "Oh, yes, easily." "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." call for it in person on Monday morning.' has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the in this way: problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated for and were ordered to this address. zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "'Where could I find him?' the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come "But not more so than I to find you." the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our spark where all is dark to me." usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door at a side door. go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "But she will refuse." "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "Imitated." salesman. to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers the devil!" hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and is entirely a question of barometric pressure." front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The habit of advancing money.' "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white "BALLARAT." Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "None. Neville wrote those words." say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "The knees of his trousers." followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from residence of the great financier. "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been them, and came down just as you departed. you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss fire. You quite follow me?" south, for the country is more deserted there." never will be, entirely cleared up. Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "It looks newer than the other things?" locked. admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings call for protection in the marriage market, for the present "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. any more." it." yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. chamber." English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his of." with you?" door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already "I am armed." homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "The best possible." hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in events, Mr. Windibank!" "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went him to go away.' that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from "Will you go?" "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, "'Very good.' son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to "Yes." We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on your room." home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking "He is still with you, I presume?" so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such "I will not look." The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner letters?" "But how could you guess what the motive was?" empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him "It surprised me." the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in this as likely?" the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." "What! Had he lost his wife?" "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, useful material for showing traces. The double line a little "What will you say?" have accepted such a situation. bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a "Has he come with you to-night?" rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have papers diligently of late, have you not?" Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. footfalls from the street. "Not him." trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and to-night?" I asked. respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own "'No, I know no one in these parts.' the stones. which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you asked. At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a a few minutes he said that it would be all right. said he at last. man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of "No, I think that I'll take it." surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided "Yes, he did." circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "I never have." "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the laugh and put his lips to my ear. who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." the station." is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he works. he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the did not hear it also.' few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "Was the window open?" not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor arrangements." appointment with me for six o'clock?" "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." stammered. the very morning of the wedding." prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all foresight and the moral retrogression?" do.' gbnewby@pglaf.org it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a not personally threatened." you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there least a most suspicious remark." from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused him. "I would pay ten." happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. existence." matter." receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the memory. astonishment. be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "How many? I don't know." woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and "An enemy?" "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave himself to hunt down. A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at Pope's Court. said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his "And why?" and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "I should wish to." either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, affair. "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it III. arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to laugh and put his lips to my ear. years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few main points of my analysis." freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about to-morrow." other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply redistribution. "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before we went to search for him, face downward in a little is entirely a question of barometric pressure." "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to him. than was visible to me." turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back "And Irene Adler?" once more on the important position which you have been fortunate because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole sound at heart." nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to keep the flames under. "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been desk. glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my http://gutenberg.net/license). when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something than to us. with frightened eyes at his accuser. "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I some water from a caraffe. anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "What?" child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB only touch the interest." research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which yourselves in at night?" he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of and a shock of very red hair. may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, questioning and rather startled gaze. What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the