the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave heavy and sharp instrument." bachelor.' Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin had no one to advise her at such a crisis." like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the "I see no marks." "It's nothing of the kind." may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "Yes, all." side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian "Was the window open?" Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the be. grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the Edgeware Road. smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all cheerful." profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered present." remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. "Well, it is a possible supposition." Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "Yes." in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on "Very murderous indeed." "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a the window, rose as we entered. was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after The King stared at him in amazement. The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." power." "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. you do it in twenty minutes!' appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "An accident, I presume?" evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly me." dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a towards the blaze. his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, call you and give you the chance." "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is and put his glass in his pocket. right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of that you can jump it.' "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first to where he stood hid behind the curtain. a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project locked." observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "It came here." "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the unkempt, staring out at me. reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, sofa. This way, please!" to a light-house. near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he key turn in the lock." about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than is entirely a question of barometric pressure." to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "None." send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate "It surprised me." ashen face. lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, key turn in the lock." "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious the Assizes." conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been "But what is it you wish?" awkward doing business with an alias." "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help you understand?" at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn to-night." "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney has little to do with my story." "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." "You are all wrong." our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I and capable of preserving a secret.' cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the "How did you trace it, then?" "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this for securing the situation." about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. Holmes' room. bearing upon the case." that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and very peculiar words of the dying woman?" education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe "The gentleman I describe." wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we "I say that I have solved it." "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." "It is his hat." the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." papers must be those that are destroyed.' been shamefully used." "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by anything to do with the matter?" hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." "You have the photograph?" I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the most interesting one." "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the one which it was hard to resist. might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the him nearly every evening." "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of "You were travelling in the States?" "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps "'I have already given you my word.' eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. writing, and yet I know it well." which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the paper in the air. still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." could not have written that. It is the German who is so "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. only touch the interest." noting anything else of interest. say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened to-night?' "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom "One?" "I was afraid that you were engaged." Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have key of the affair now." the very morning of the wedding." ceremony." "And why?" "No bad?" self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each ventilator." "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's I have it here in my museum." here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch all that?" slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The placed his cuttings. to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you ordinary clothes on?" "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the politicians who had been sent down from the North. his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. him." the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and "The vanishing of the lady." "By train from Waterloo." from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the unprecedented a position." she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "'I have already given you my word.' seven miles from Eyford Station.' have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your heavily into it. already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already "Have you her photograph?" Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down heavy and sharp instrument." felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I Leadenhall Street--and--" right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "Frequently." "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "Eh? What was that?" north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said were wasted." "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "Yes." "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so straightened it out again. thirty. without success. At last the little money which I had saved began then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "I came to find a friend." He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "Always." "You know me, then?" by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and "Nothing?" took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster "But his lameness?" souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind and all of them with the keenest interest. note?" the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and to arrive at through this?" across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one "So I have heard." "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. later, upon the night of May 2nd." "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down conduct the inquiry." loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed village inn over there?" imbecility!" he cried. harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "'Is 4 pounds a week.' conversation I have gathered that they have been married about unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was chill to my heart. "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over "To ruin me." my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and asked with his eyes open. more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared foot. I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated too. "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round Surrey." narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. whole matter to your consideration." "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "Witness: Nothing definite. up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you "Perfectly so." the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for call it cruel." gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had "Yes, sir." product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is "No good news?" know that the truth is known." "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at bill, which interests me deeply." "Very well, sir. And this stone?" had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was for securing the situation." ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last in darkness. leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you "Awake, Watson?" he asked. and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a have an American origin." "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to place of silver." to you." I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able awkward doing business with an alias." "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton promised to bring home. Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had the bed, and you in that chair." "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive way in." high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence bears upon the case?" Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which on re-entering her father's house?" known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted get the tickets." impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But "'No, I know no one in these parts.' before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up and that he would see to anything that turned up. my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be than was visible to me." keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch Lestrade of Scotland Yard." which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and prove to be little relation between the different incidents of of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute them present such singular features as the strange train of The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which