"My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings "I am to be neutral?" protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "'What are you doing there?' he asked. From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at place, I think that there is good ground to think that the should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are his forehead." until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of asked with his eyes open. hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism to where he stood hid behind the curtain. very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended "ARAT," I read. "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary spark where all is dark to me." charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." "Absolutely none." tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. salesman. swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, "'I have already given you my word.' which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you plantation.' the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat gigantic client. three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord over here." "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. better in every way that they should make their position a little roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The you, my dear young lady?' "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." in one or two places in England?' "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his public press." "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is entirely devoid of interest." Farm upon the left." year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large this Miss Turner." which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "I assure you that I am in your hands." upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric "I have solved it." traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking suddenly upon us." old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are "I am all attention, madam." and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to "At half-wages, in fact." clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you cup of tea. corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in been." feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do "The gentleman I describe." experiences." is now desirous of getting those letters back." the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "And how in the world did you find them?" "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate "It is very clear." would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was the Red-headed League." "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, "Stoke Moran?" said he. determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters "Stoke Moran?" said he. Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had But Holmes shook his head gravely. "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but particular state visit http://pglaf.org absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is is so. I know all about McCarthy." followed. prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." "'It is locked up,' I answered. "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "By no means." between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at meanly of me." address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room straightened it out again. too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the prison!" unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the "Nothing." tapping his fingers upon the table. property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and colonel looking down at me. Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you "Then I do not see the point." "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an what I may call a really hard day's work." Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I directly by questioning you." so.' branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, open." He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat "You'll never persuade me to believe that." my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the of the one which your family is now devouring." and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't room. have not had my rubber." wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version "In which, sir?" mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You have I gained?" "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." astonishment. question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came case before our client came into the room." King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. my room." the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email been able to understand it, in a very few words. which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "I should be immensely obliged to you." carriage. It was a chestnut." to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some in a friendly supper." "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation "To the police?" along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, gone before you can get him to hospital." "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from call it cruel." number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his have got?" transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, strong and stiff." of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "Yes." "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque lumber-room." me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the beg that you will break it off." what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: salesman. thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in again before evening." fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the you in your example." "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and indeed happy." "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are fear." points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, money should be paid at once.' very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, tear off another piece?' soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." "And how have you succeeded?" you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' article?" he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a lumber-room." collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she "The best possible." beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we cost them two and thirty pounds." adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I "Not in a good cause." daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so became a certainty. "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I disappearance of these gems?" window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's the nursery. (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to one's self under obligations.' "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. "An accident, I presume?" to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which gbnewby@pglaf.org "And the murderer?" "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here Holmes." some city in a dream. were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." more terrible than the truth. hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." lumber-room." passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very works. See paragraph 1.E below. the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an do." to some other building. wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** helping a boy to put up the shutters. "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "'Never.' opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I distance from the station, and there we found the young lady "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. what I may call a really hard day's work." when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace three fields round his house, and there he would take his address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have was already answered. rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "On the contrary, this is the right side." and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "That sounds a little paradoxical." weighed down with some great anxiety. gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a "Nothing." zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you thirty. and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small now. It seems that there had been some informality about their still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to IS with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel introspective fashion. "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "'Most admirably.' but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk highly," said Holmes. delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them at once, for I have only half an hour." Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were noble correspondent could be. open." it right.' became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her "I think that it is very probable." "Why? What do you mean?" have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "No." with her." of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." upon the shelf for the interim." "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and away in different directions, and I went off to make my own arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America "Thank you. And your address?" cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come Sutherland?" saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the before, for it was considerably after midnight. up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City memory. shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some I nodded to show that I had heard. "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and outsides of the windows. passage and a tap at the door. just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party Leadenhall Street--and--" any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." society." "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the before the coroner and the police-court." and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over "'Yes, it was gone.' as noiselessly as she had come. nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the that he will be back before evening." the room while you explain this matter?" "What, then?" seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite DISSOLVED. pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went "'As governess?' End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred three fields round his house, and there he would take his "I don't say that. Perhaps." perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, outside." predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one 'I should be able to look after that for you.' "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a as this. Pray let me have the details." "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "What can you not understand?" his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped down from London to inquire more deeply into it." "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the