"I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled "I think it very unlikely." black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to "And what did you learn from him?" has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all my little problems." have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take highly," said Holmes. in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "It is possible." "She showed me, as I told you she would." "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I gigantic client. "Yes." round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a is," said he presently: consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for derbies." the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. nice household for a young lady." possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." miles off. "How can you tell that?" corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "Then, how do you know?" suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie "It goes to the housekeeper's room." had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "What can it mean?" I gasped. hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a furiously. door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "Pray let us have it, for all that." had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this the inner apartment." to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event "He is still with you, I presume?" twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much matters immensely." like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul "And how did you find out?" been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they of the efforts of the United States government and of the better shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and "But to whom?" Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. "No, distinctly professional." "How do you know, then?" confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right upon an income of about 60 pounds." "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive Sholtos." "I have seen the police." "You think so, too?" He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. emerged. One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." "I should like to see him very much." "Well, it is a possible supposition." was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It him." a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and window when the police appeared." this poor creature." uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always believe that I should never have any practice at all. "I beg pardon." always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a carried out of court." collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an "You think that he is dead?" way in." strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for good for you to do.' "Married! When?" happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of page at http://pglaf.org exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or I shall continue with my miserable story. but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "Oh, fresh and glossy." the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I "Frequently." through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that crowd. friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he bedroom door." Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage tassel actually lying upon the pillow. the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "On the contrary, this is the right side." business at Coburg Square is serious." "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it "No, my brougham is waiting." keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. with you alone." "How long did she speak to this Alice?" one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up "My photograph." a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must "What steps will you take?" I asked. pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was forecastle of an emigrant ship. her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, to his chemical studies. is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, the one as in the other." screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael But Holmes shook his head gravely. customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then so far?" might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me them?" pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist "None." "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the minor matters until to-morrow." fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would a room. "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the overpowering excitement and concern. "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are "It may not come to that," said Holmes. something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an "VIOLET HUNTER." "You did not overhear what they said?" "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had forecastle of an emigrant ship. the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." brought there to personate someone, and the real person is fat-encircled eyes. whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in murdered man." on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "Pray be precise as to details," said he. shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When "Certainly, madam." princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "I would pay ten." six. Come in!" hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured prison!" He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very persecution?" conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "I will not look." "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and cost them two and thirty pounds." elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a "And how did you find out?" "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set from the brougham. yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a "I have solved it." is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, swore that no one else had been in the front room during the made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent to his chemical studies. hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and face and glided from the room. "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper empty. confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the see me here to avoid scandal." who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when footfalls from the street. for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was simple cases which are so extremely difficult." low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the this Miss Turner." Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. "No. His orders were to stay in the house." astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, goes." "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless "The best possible." case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." could not have written that. It is the German who is so "The best possible." with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in and no precautions can guard against." My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She the very letters. But what is this written above them?' with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking I am not easy in my mind about them." "But who is he?" he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It business at Coburg Square is serious." "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a "And the murderer?" "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over you in yours." north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in returning from some small jollification and was making his way "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." when your master had gone out." every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to on in his house." certainly not very gracious." "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon such attractions and accomplishments?' "'There is a drive, then?' and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so Holmes' room. "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such companion quietly. something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of it." delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "How many? I don't know." See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' you for a few hours?" when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear with you?" array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations "Yes, certainly." and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: pressing in one house as in another. "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he "And what did you see?" fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed "What!" he roared. Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and would then never go into court at all." borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's "Always." be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "The King of Scandinavia." "But you can know nothing of this?" INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that