husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' "'About the same.' observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds said he, "my real name is James Ryder." particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety imbecility!" he cried. only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. fat-encircled eyes. and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by congenial hunt. the bed, and you in that chair." at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." I shall continue with my miserable story. heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One "And from a noble client?" Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much of Fenchurch Street." Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "You don't mind breaking the law?" chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that "I am armed." have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin next day. congenial hunt. tightly behind him. "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and "Yes, certainly." his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. himself in a perplexing position. scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of observed. "I cannot say that I have." collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow crime. "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady "I think that I had better go, Holmes." own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and things are very often connected not with the larger but with the fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another upon the white wrist. her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which "Get out!" said he. key turn in the lock." lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his dead, shall be safe with us." multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "That is easily got." from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at there has been an enclosure here!" and shall probably return to London by the evening train." come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to "At half-wages, in fact." my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden could not account in any way for the presence of the missing up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy "Not him." gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem Have you good authority for what you say?" it with his own hands." green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest of his shoulders. absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments you for a few hours?" "Yes, at the mines." Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be one which it was hard to resist. screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark putting in the horse. its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the to have been novel and of interest." it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that and laid it on the table. "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by and the whole place is in a blaze." engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for be.' staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea particular state visit http://pglaf.org "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If to talk it over. landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week would apply.' office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and you in yours." At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had you came in." brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There "'Entirely.' misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever during that time.' Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm You want to know what became of those geese?" the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work own family. the Friday. Was it to be in church?" relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones stood on the top of it. ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an stalked out of the room. told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of business at Coburg Square is serious." "That is unusual in a young girl." shall use the carriage to-night." again on its way. having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your morning." walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from "He is still with you, I presume?" "What can you not understand?" however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building and the whole place is in a blaze." the stable lane now." just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of to change my dress. orange pips. "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day during that time.' his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." presented more singular features than that which was associated Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black "But how did you gain them?" Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are closely." (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my This is what he says: and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to 1.E.9. affection." This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the place no limit on the sum I may draw." "He is still with you, I presume?" before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in four million human beings all jostling each other within the gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and could not have written that. It is the German who is so Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "And did you observe any change in her then?" Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's the inquest, and which are worth considering." End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, "A thing like a cleaver," said he. we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself unkempt, staring out at me. Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the secret." strength in the others." prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose and glanced through. "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his hour?' "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "You are certainly joking, Holmes." "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You hurried away. did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "But his lameness?" his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and "Do you receive much company?" he asked. upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "I have hopes." too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst without a word or a look. through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a "Then I can wait in the next room." know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul "'Not at all. I only doubt--' remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "Have you her photograph?" "It is solved." and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "None." pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen sit on the left-hand side of the driver." handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, "'What then?' I asked. upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows followed. "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "'What are you doing there?' he asked. "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the client, rising. "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution conceal it?" and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees brandy and water within his reach. to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under pound a week." third from London." Street. "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate third from London." whole matter to your consideration." annoyance, but no jest. she has been waylaid. There has been no result." usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what "It is half-past ten now." refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open was it brought him the coronet? "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' "What I expected to see." emerged. two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more showing my impatience. "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a upon the sideboard." every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' best detective that ever lived. wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "'About the same.' "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings "What steps will you take?" I asked. "Well." the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a "Did you become engaged then?" member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east all that?" "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "But how?" dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black "Yes?" you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his prepare for the new role I have to play." but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "It was a confession," I ejaculated. "No, thank goodness, she did not." With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! man. I know him from the photograph." urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to their singular warning or token before them when starting upon Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very present." twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "I cannot tell." notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those carriage. It was a chestnut." the bed, and you in that chair." "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. information in his hands the value of which he did not himself will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The digesting their breakfasts at home." "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "Murdered?" "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing lectures into a series of tales." correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, get the tickets." anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the The telegram which we eventually received came late one night "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to locked." really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while Heh?' better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry "Where, indeed?" Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with "She walked into the breakfast-room." from the brougham. consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards business?" I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I prisoner's face. "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "I beg pardon." and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few "I don't say that. Perhaps." right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel