"You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have what do you think they found in the pockets?" likely to be some crony of the landlady's." Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at one of them." "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can forecastle of an emigrant ship. cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a fluttered off among the others. matter." of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "And it is--" solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "When did it break out?" peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her there has been an enclosure here!" of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, paper in the air. or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my thin legs towards the fire. Pool. "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "Perhaps I have." the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in quick march!" met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending "'What are you doing there?' he asked. "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which information in his hands the value of which he did not himself as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, the Assizes." follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any that you can jump it.' zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, long narrative. "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She disappearance of these gems?" prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in woman who has had her own way to make in the world. greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging crime. the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is looking up at the numbers of the houses." shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when crackling voice. the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different official police." doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare I think that I could be of assistance to you." once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view What do you deduce from it?" 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. wanted for ourselves." vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of "Her father is very rich?" propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I acted in my house last night?" "I have hopes." 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for most important business. It is probable that he will be away all wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently was a loud and authoritative tap. flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, "Then, as to money?" in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very wedding?" a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided "I don't believe it." "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version "To an end?" all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and more solid." machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms "So it appears." pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As which our visitor detailed to us. conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang whatever might befall. of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a think, you have already met." again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as minor matters until to-morrow." A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he "Not in the least." "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high 'please.'" carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for were unconscious?" As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his October 9, 1890. other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest overpowering excitement and concern. little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. will take you up to see the machine.' sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be and all of them with the keenest interest. "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. McCarthy's innocence. tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "I fear not." plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where not come at once?" back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the passage and a tap at the door. answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting "That is possible." never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be "What are they?" your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be "I warn you that they are very incomplete." It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to strange features which were associated with the two crimes which and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would "Well?" populous neighbourhood." "On the contrary, this is the right side." what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven fait accompli?" down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, into her hand at the door and which lured her within their "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that him." "None." relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was My friend smiled. corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, really the only notable feature about the thing." some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble now. It seems that there had been some informality about their equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty bed dies. Does not that strike you?" Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear back into the street. them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing affair. "None." the morning and make my own way in the world.' "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a chair. would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. question," said Holmes, smiling. waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when "'You doubt its value?' he asked. upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I empty. the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in business." day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did appointment with me for six o'clock?" whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." indeed happy." space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per thin, with a long, sharp nose?" newspaper selections." "No sign of it?" some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, families. Now for the facts. questioning and rather startled gaze. How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to comes from the middle window." on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might events, Mr. Windibank!" can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." sparkled upon his finger. had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "'There is a drive, then?' rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have go--none." Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were it? Did I buy the geese off you?" means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of to you." that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "It surprised me." "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice call for it in person on Monday morning.' compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to "Yes, at the mines." "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business "No more words. Get out!" ill-usage at the hands of fortune. sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not "Was there a secret marriage?" "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." at a side door. unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt which should have the effect of calling the attention of the Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. McCarthy." retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful business?" reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a the room while you explain this matter?" myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" upon an income of about 60 pounds." "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and "Thank you. And your address?" laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." and shall probably return to London by the evening train." "You horrify me!" loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, "By no means." and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst imbecility!" he cried. in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "He slept on the premises." body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "My last client of the sort was a king." anything to do with the matter?" together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his could not have written that. It is the German who is so "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in strode off upon his way. for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all believe that I should never have any practice at all. "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could been able to understand it, in a very few words. the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of indeed which he could not unravel. "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to