that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "The landlord of the Alpha." "Which surely he restored to their owner?" effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change "Where did he live, then?" is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower there when the Rucastles went away." transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at "Pray tell us what has happened to you." have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, made him keep the appointment." It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very "It is a murder, then?" "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time about. many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "Well." one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." "Pray continue your narrative." "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been "How do you know, then?" into the room. "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the conversation I have gathered that they have been married about four million human beings all jostling each other within the the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his "Yes?" rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that round and wave him away like that.' "Could he throw no light?" "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after maid will bring up your coffee." companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are begun to whiten, even as mine has." began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than do.' chamber." but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "How many? I don't know." The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler "I will do it." you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we fat-encircled eyes. week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the Doctor, of the paper and the date." precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic suggested at once that there must be a communication between the of it with the greatest attention. "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after "Very much so." papers diligently of late, have you not?" stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, experiences." know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his gentleman's clothes. every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very "What is it?" the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from *** START: FULL LICENSE *** *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what sooner or later she must fall a victim. long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "I have a cab outside." misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet burst out into a roar of laughter. would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through "Of what day?" cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "No good news?" upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with "It is half-past ten now." was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no do.' scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it "Yes." younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both *** START: FULL LICENSE *** and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first child?' "You are certainly joking, Holmes." across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "Oh, yes, easily." got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "To an end?" light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your official police." "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of was feeling which was the fattest.' nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "I am sure." fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. lips." "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, detained." considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and crime." fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully charge against him will break down." dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still "Well, some hundreds of times." "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "Then, as to money?" WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you congratulate you again." but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. without a word or a look. black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who been with you?" wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress "You have compromised yourself seriously." distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." "You have compromised yourself seriously." "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire "Why did you pick him?" Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "Won't it ring?" broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and you came in." back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving outside. peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other call for it in person on Monday morning.' but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in voice, changing her seat as requested. As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the "Then, as to money?" work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. would then never go into court at all." "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late second." back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if heavy and sharp instrument." then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both "A thing like a cleaver," said he. own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "Absolutely none." of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey bare slabs of marble. served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "That is it on the dressing-table." "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if "Dirty?" simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. "Look there!" said he. have I gained?" he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "Certainly." he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an "My stepfather's business papers." "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand silent! Oh, he will be silent!' very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "How are you getting on?" in darkness. the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must it." breakfast?" "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we mystery." in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been astonishment. noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his companion. thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his indiscretion." meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, "I answered that I had not. were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "Not yet." are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." Henry Baker is a member." "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most details." Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant right! Sit down and let us talk it over." so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror "Yes, that is the Crown." "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line My friend smiled. web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first late!' "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and round and wave him away like that.' he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I to Leatherhead. the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must written. "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman good-night and bustled off upon her way. "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but "There are none." back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to gives a meaning to it." at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the "'Certainly not.' Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old down in his armchair and closing his eyes. go from here to the Strand." coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "From his hat?" be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "My Mary? Impossible!" Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the enough to aid us in our search." up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was address. be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened was shining brightly. up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, "The decline of his fortunes, then?" the house with me." you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel subject to the trademark license, especially commercial in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." him!" on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "You horrify me!" "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" in the port of London." from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked children over to America with him, so that I found myself without than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking investigation." self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting "How can you tell that?" part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught lectures into a series of tales." about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, fluttered off among the others. The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater tail." "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a weapon." remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were there." "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely of Fenchurch Street." "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "But what is it you wish?" somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." "Yes, all." dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "'You doubt its value?' he asked. complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." writing, and yet I know it well." sooner or later she must fall a victim. vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, "Well, some hundreds of times." the loss of it. manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long are, I think, all that we need." our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, nothing of it?" drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now room. engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the