"Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not relief. very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "That is also quite modern," said the lady. - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark to his chemical studies. "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" daring than any effort of the imagination." overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other and the colonel ushered me in. "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the fluttered off among the others. revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the "I cannot say that I have." DAMAGE. here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with said he at last. upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring were unconscious?" took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a kind enough to tell me what I should do." expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about and the colonel ushered me in. "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and train.' "But he might be a bachelor." You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a "Then I do not see the point." who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my never will be, entirely cleared up. "Very. But will he see it?" was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. from the brougham. paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and stood on the top of it. seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The very peculiar words of the dying woman?" quite distinctive." "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you "No, I think that I'll take it." "She showed me, as I told you she would." "Your sister is dead, then?" he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And "Why serious?" was a perfect sample of the class. that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. in one or two places in England?' do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "'Ten to two.' convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, which I could not give. He asked for Alice. her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously there in twenty minutes." "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "It is solved." The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner impression behind it as though a window had gently closed felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" any." strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." we went to search for him, face downward in a little shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself "'Very good.' I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took Farm upon the left." ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; wife's character?" perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. them?" "Never." them?" furiously. home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend "And why in hopes?" and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the with you alone." Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "Texas, I think." Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his was shining brightly. waste of energy." "And now?" I asked. low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "But you were on a friendly footing?" spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and "She showed me, as I told you she would." companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." one which it was hard to resist. is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "To the police?" acted in my house last night?" fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "Pray do so." you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the "Why? What do you mean?" "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step bore every mark of being an average commonplace British little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" points in connection with it which never have been, and probably Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark "'There is a drive, then?' chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets me." was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or despair." "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, of a light. swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace approach us with offers to donate. I nodded to show that I had heard. we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself sake, don't!" "I am in hopes that she does." disappearance of these gems?" It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or will he say when he returns?" I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began lips." "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I was used.' rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would what these perils are?" when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "Yes?" those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your she might be summoned. "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just would then never go into court at all." "And it is--" and no precautions can guard against." daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, him. of the vacancies.' life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "What can you not understand?" Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear within hail.' in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. business matters.' is entirely a question of barometric pressure." Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I "Look there!" said he. remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "Why, what do you mean?" "'Certainly not.' parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see appeared upon the scene." Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin morning." "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his Surrey." so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." this as likely?" "And it is--" upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There "Did you observe the colour?" "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our them?" for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you to talk it over. prisoner's face. have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, said he at last. at my own good fortune. hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is "May I see it?" will find little credit to be gained out of this case." building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" nonsense.' "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "And when will you call?" "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned What do you deduce from it?" "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and father's place of business?" can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four the stones. inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked to tackle the facts." "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year tassel actually lying upon the pillow. him, that man would not have given me such complete information light and attacked it." "That was it, sir." hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the wanted for ourselves." probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His from you?" shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I trying to your nerves." happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it whether it answered to the description of any of their pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double danger is over." than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." there were so many in the whole country as were brought together returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on annoyance, but no jest. chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared as the one I chose?' of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary "I am all attention, madam." "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. place of silver." when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps "And the cigar-holder?" and prosperity to your house. Good-night." "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given you." But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being and the whole place is in a blaze." hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, all that?" is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for "I guessed as much." means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. of fine shops and stately business premises that they really see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have deduce something from that?" produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is cheerful." "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round it." the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over said I. before the coroner and the police-court." "I see many objections to any such theory." of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists "You have the photograph?" the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and "9th. McCauley cleared. though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a what is your own theory as to what took place?" strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "Because he was handy and would come cheap." away into the river." "Yes." over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "I cannot imagine." "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the done what I asked you, Jones?" "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, Countess of Morcar's?" that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "Yes." "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose open." iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is Doctor, of the paper and the date." not fit the lock." moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has and your relations to her." of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the "But who is he?" asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the breakfast?" "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be "Why serious?" "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this photograph a cabinet?"