very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very some terrible trap for her." ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy Lestrade of Scotland Yard." despaired of." particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed observed. "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." already been minutely examined." his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I there!' "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened problems help me to do so." she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an cigar and let me expound." as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "Pray do so." "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed pierced for earrings?" over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to useful material for showing traces. The double line a little erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope unclasping of his long thin hands. "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. during that time.' you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. ready to-morrow?' lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point "Of what?" "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," "He is still with you, I presume?" Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side entirely lost his self-respect." "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' and glanced through. "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good it." and the colonel ushered me in. "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, father's young wife. foot. go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." as noiselessly as she had come. so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, fattened it expressly for you.' wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort situation." the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a think you a quite exceptional woman." month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with second." examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of country, and eventually married, without anyone having a flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for "I cannot imagine." a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen "Holmes, the busybody!" sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will until night should bring an explanation. "Nearly eleven." "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming "By no means." fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "How did you trace it, then?" clang of the bell. to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture lamp. "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "'What do you call purely nominal?' in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed there when the Rucastles went away." "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a that the gas is not laid on in his house?" in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking and files of the old papers, following the future career of every best detective that ever lived. fluttered off among the others. "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair "It goes to the housekeeper's room." 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to pictures, libraries, or plate. north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and "'Then let me do so?' deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and of your young ladies.' that you wished to speak to me?' headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the late." where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by meant." fear." his wife has ceased to love him." crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, any." "A client, then?" Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for drove away. Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss colour had been driven from his face. act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "Why? What do you mean?" office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after "How often?" to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use than to us. "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the infinite languor in his face. typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "You were travelling in the States?" "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "Oh, yes, easily." temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "Where to?" the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed persecution?" "I promise," said Holmes. a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing depend upon your compliance." springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend always that they were such commands as a lady might with I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just on in his house." that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow followed. understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." despaired of." in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was "Indeed! Whose, then?" very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not intrusion of other matters." to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable careless servant girl?" out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is straighten it?" Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The better in every way that they should make their position a little which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew where Mr. Fordham shows you.' the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster "Pray tell us what has happened to you." "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel bachelor.' why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in enough to aid us in our search." snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of chambers. soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy our word." princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I I. that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he that I may have something better before very many minutes are prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir during that time.' along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, see me here to avoid scandal." dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend habit of advancing money.' "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "It's nothing of the kind." least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other a little more before I quite committed myself. "Very well, sir. And this stone?" "Certainly." Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "It was a confession," I ejaculated. you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the room had already been engaged for us. bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters least a fellow-countryman. everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and "I answered that I had not. bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step "How about poison?" Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my about. posted to-day." "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two she might be summoned. "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the "Yes, that is the Crown." would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to have got?" "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and works. See paragraph 1.E below. back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "From his hat?" "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed "I cannot tell." "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a Again Holmes raved in the air. Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of detective. "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold mystery." "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a "The vanishing of the lady." what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly have been better. It is all right." stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or it. strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm "And why?" forbidden door. But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the details should find their way into the papers. Inspector lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "Of what day?" "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears had this final quarrel? cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "The King of Scandinavia." "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness your Highness to the police-station?" some water from a caraffe. "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside "The best possible." seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" have been better. It is all right." pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "'Certainly not. But why?' though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" with her." were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and without a word or a look. "When did it break out?" "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." remarked. bonnet, and went out." recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter are, I think, all that we need." common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the like gravel from a pit.' the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The