you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the singular points about the case. What did the police think of the knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a there has been an enclosure here!" photograph?" a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on ventilator." to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position used to be." inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and someone who had been in Australia." upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has "It was." will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do fish-monger and a tide-waiter." of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an "Dr. Becher's." so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about during which he might have communicated with his friend the "Yes." "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a tapping his fingers upon the table. received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and "Precisely." the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm about here speaks of his kindness to him." "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is cigars in their mouths. staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after of them has the shutters up.' "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. said he, "my real name is James Ryder." might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "I don't believe it." she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and rose-bushes. "And that is--" "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, over with notes and figures. been lifted and conveyed somewhere." as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep McCarthy's innocence. "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the page at http://pglaf.org as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while yards of it?' had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." been anything against him. He had for years been known as a unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took hour?' what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, "No bad?" lips." in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more waste of energy." "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there least a fellow-countryman. ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or relief. When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies "And what did you learn from him?" I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic one's self under obligations.' open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon "And Irene Adler?" facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the eavesdroppers?' occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was the side-table." the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded Gutenberg-tm License. "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one on re-entering her father's house?" and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up himself to hunt down. centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his know all about it," he snarled. then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced the general public were present, then?" promised to bring home. at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible becomes even more simple." studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "Yes, from Horsham." unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I which are rolled in Rotterdam." "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled "One horse?" interjected Holmes. Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from my room." "No, my brougham is waiting." you want, then?' him. gone before you can get him to hospital." was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed For additional contact information: "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking was once confined in the cab my mission was practically Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On "A greater distance to travel." treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it For additional contact information: suddenly upon us." It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, "'Where to?' "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. tassel actually lying upon the pillow. little adventures." know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back and the whole place is in a blaze." "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" "It is very kind of you." towards the blaze. the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, footfalls from the street. to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle is," said he presently: headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at breakfast?" I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "Not in the least." foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was "It is his hat." "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "It is to him that this trophy belongs." and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" easy-going way." unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." "And what did you see?" that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, examine." manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" out of this horrible affair." "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as and looked back. that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not "The vanishing of the lady." rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "How long did she speak to this Alice?" them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock "Did your wife hear all this?" 11:15.' a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, Holmes' thin, eager face. The police have openly confessed that they can at present make "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I I. happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." at home. he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, speckled band?" "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "The knees of his trousers." out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, "I don't believe it." conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable next day. They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally upon the white wrist. foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life "By train from Waterloo." Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I allusion to a rat. keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings vague figure huddled up in the darkness. "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given once more. As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a upon a handsome competence. focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately this man was intellectual?" Pope's Court, Fleet Street." again on its way. yet." broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, you." washing it down with a long draught of water. "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very hour?' "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do beg that you will break it off." Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of "How on earth--" individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither along the entire front of the house, with three long windows "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and "Well?" the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he neither fascinating nor artistic." To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their "He said too much." late!' heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback "So I heard. You have him here?" to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in absorbing." read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he trifles." 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the the Red-headed League." said I. "In which, sir?" a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and who was a member of your goose club." himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so public press." front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the purpose equally well?" the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third his fortune, and I went back to pa. estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress both be extremely obliged.' end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried from you?" calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, later, upon the night of May 2nd." contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into present." lips." you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." way in everything. works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and tension within him. "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" out of this horrible affair." families. Now for the facts. follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from "Never to return." predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from burst out into a roar of laughter. on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" south, for the country is more deserted there." wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, coroner's jury." McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the ways of our fellow-men." answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. outside. my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "And I say east," said my patient. high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely late!'