beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it three fields round his house, and there he would take his My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with frequently gained my first real insight into the character of while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my note?" Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook "Of Friday, June 19th." along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no and the colonel ushered me in. docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do "Did your wife hear all this?" "Do you receive much company?" he asked. stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where that I am arrested." that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." throat." "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "Of what day?" For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE to tackle the facts." bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of "Oh, fresh and glossy." left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "I am about to be married." search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. persecution?" James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white "I answered that I had not. a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "I cannot say that I have." "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than I approached. name is different." crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to any little problem which you may submit to me." did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was death." had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded electronic works With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a must be when I saw the door open.' silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. himself in a perplexing position. "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "'Never.' "And is that all?" beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There the stones. "You have compromised yourself seriously." national property. I was determined that the law should have its and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it one of them." ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible "You have carte blanche." paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "But how will you look?" Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any to affect your life." strong and stiff." "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable hopeless attempt at recovering them." "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and amused." "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" on re-entering her father's house?" customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now "Precisely so. But how--" "Yes, at the mines." "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return October 9, 1890. "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when been deceived." disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some little trying to do so much typewriting?" grasp, he hurried from the room. common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed the dangers which encompass me." train.' "I have solved it." "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. which are rolled in Rotterdam." editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to situation." "What then?" steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. "Oh, fresh and glossy." "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a 1.F. "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the girl said." places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long go back?" "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were "I am armed." client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and "Were they all fastened this morning?" "What I expected to see." imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. "Was he the only applicant?" said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: "Well?" for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to the bed, and you in that chair." unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the congenial hunt. "No sign of it?" "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. You want to know what became of those geese?" "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, careless servant girl?" attention." look upon these things in a different way." shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "But what harm can there be in that?" of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely "'Ten to two.' the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an characteristics, but those are the more obvious." "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we past. "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" waste of energy." in the port of London." just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down "Won't it ring?" criminal. We have already had experience of such." governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. or other trace. But how on earth--" attention." form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, useful material for showing traces. The double line a little vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something that?' which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the neither fascinating nor artistic." wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so "Yes, but only for you and me." winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She "Was the window open?" has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in to-night?" I asked. upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "In which, sir?" TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." when you have done it." should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, young Openshaw's." threw himself down with his face to the pillow. you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, "You will not go there first?" "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like bearing upon the case." "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," ran thus: he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to cigars in the box." the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so test if we have an answer to our advertisement." "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter gives a meaning to it." half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." "But she will refuse." to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to "Yes." inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? vague figure huddled up in the darkness. card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it breakfast." friend's singular character. age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and galvanised. awkward doing business with an alias." sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. "A confidential servant?" "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. sooner or later she must fall a victim. seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our gone. everything which you would wish to know." "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "But his left-handedness." that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit assist you in forming an opinion." foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an prisoner's face. a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange a monotonous occupation." has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "'Yes.' fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "Then I can wait in the next room." http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is Henry Baker is a member." erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there purpose equally well?" "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked appeared upon the scene." are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar and files of the old papers, following the future career of every compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this to some other building. a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly "No." strong reason behind." need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, "Very much so." herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his which it had come upon my father." "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "Because he was handy and would come cheap." again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old helping a boy to put up the shutters. in my life." miles off. leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "'Is purely nominal.' room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before burst into a hearty fit of laughter. was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me knowledge of the world." that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning appeal." or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet in my life." round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then your only hope of safety." upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door chill to my heart. months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this chemical work which was so dear to him. at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send him and tried to hold him back. was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend "'How far from the body?' points to suicide?" "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society have one." ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the me. You must get home instantly and act." horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "Whose house is it?" of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless than was visible to me." recall any case within my experience which looked at the first freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have followed. red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility are windows in it, of course?" the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his "Ha! you find it so?" not come at once?" fat-encircled eyes. "Yes, that is the Crown." much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up was keenly on my guard against him. absolutely follow my advice in every respect." making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, prison!" about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the I took the paper from him and read as follows: "Have you her photograph?" the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A quickly through a disagreeable task. over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which fire. You quite follow me?" One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises important." business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. reach." recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an experiences." "He is still with you, I presume?" "Then you may entirely rely on me." It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer had no one to advise her at such a crisis." wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of along the entire front of the house, with three long windows see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. "Entirely." "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, "What then?" own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. forehead. "Well, it is a possible supposition." Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and depend upon my doing so.' 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily "Was he the only applicant?" with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the in my life." seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. enter into my head. ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY