"Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? intimate personal affairs in this public manner." light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "Get out!" said he. could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. in the dead of the night?' here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was Holmes' face clouded over. promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for help us in this matter." drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and his face. was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, one which it was hard to resist. age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it have been better. It is all right." villagers almost as much as their master. whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "Which surely he restored to their owner?" could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them morning." extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "It is true that I have been generally successful." sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with a monotonous occupation." have an American origin." The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking "Bought." unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "I see no marks." "Yes?" "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen promised to bring home. state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural something of him before." maiden herself was most instructive." the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that call the police, let the police find what they can.' public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two "'And the work?' from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, fish-monger and a tide-waiter." seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that matters immensely." corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' girl said." his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." "The rest you will leave in our hands." without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid "But you would not advise me to refuse?" "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who "Nothing?" of." the side-table." was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. hair?' strong and stiff." as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the "But you were on a friendly footing?" exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." recover the gem." did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "And help." Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My it." sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "By no means." feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made "But of what society?" Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of October 9, 1890. across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." "Very. But will he see it?" red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a But Holmes shook his head gravely. square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. hardly wander." Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "I have a cab outside." "May I see it?" was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "Whose house is it?" which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you with the outside air!" occurred." It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six that, and I came down." article?" my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the maiden herself was most instructive." works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from beyond words. you." Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss kindly on the shoulder. insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one over part of the map. "What do you read?" "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be bird of prey. "What is it, then--a fire?" Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your vanished into the darkness. wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to "How did that help you?" tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This golden eyeglasses. Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "By no means." pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of "I have a cab outside." quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do Pope's Court, Fleet Street." there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled considering the formidable letters which were received by himself "Come in!" said Holmes. wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with I think that I could be of assistance to you." mysterious business." or in danger--" anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment The telegram which we eventually received came late one night lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated "It certainly sounds feasible." The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a events than those which have happened in my own family." consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. mystery!" very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of vault. inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual comes from the middle window." quite distinctive." just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of me upon any point which I do not make clear." beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was three fields round his house, and there he would take his question," said Holmes, smiling. I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, chill to my heart. say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But 1.F. With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had "I think that I had better go, Holmes." not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps his fortune, and I went back to pa. to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said closing the door. admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are "One of the highest in England." the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, stalked out of the room. noise which awoke you from your sleep?" "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and believe that I should never have any practice at all. quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The "That's no good." The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "Never." any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my "My photograph." the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, for and were ordered to this address. that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his and no precautions can guard against." Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not what I may call a really hard day's work." which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen "How can you tell that?" managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "It goes to the housekeeper's room." "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was been lifted and conveyed somewhere." more solid." "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said acquaintance?" many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in conceal it?" "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." morning." some mystery and the punishment of some crime." have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "It was an hour's good drive." leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up envelope. been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a opened a pocket-book and took out a note. address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an of this gang." him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right him." sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he never came back." "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes been able to understand it, in a very few words. was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in people don't know." "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of interests were the same as his." that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous what these perils are?" "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in towards the blaze. were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "Why, what do you mean?" your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as "Which are?" "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." examination of the premises, but without finding anything which this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already undoubtedly my uncle's." locked." must compliment you." "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing upon the sideboard." "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he posted to-day." "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very to-night." left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you "He disappeared so suddenly." this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. and no precautions can guard against." decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "If I can be of use." make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook which our visitor detailed to us. the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. the loss of it. he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had crime." you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, "'Most admirably.' returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his affair. the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole "Won't it ring?" regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some breakfast?" at once, for I have only half an hour." struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone "It is very clear." with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a interests were the same as his." "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "Is he quiet?" "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at society." contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "From his hat?" yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning been anything against him. He had for years been known as a occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. completely overtopped every other consideration that we both had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers just ask you whether you had heard it.' every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, point our research must commence, and we will begin it by returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment hands. when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. of the vacancies.' down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have brandy and water within his reach. impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "They are typewritten," I remarked. to arrive at through this?" of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about had no one to advise her at such a crisis." Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled written. begun to whiten, even as mine has." few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous have been better. It is all right."