"Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but 'I should be able to look after that for you.' Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know someone who had been in Australia." should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks experiences." "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow have not had my rubber." desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed relation between them, and what the object of his repeated "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "Yes, all." "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how of your young ladies.' "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort with some details as to your case." rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for fishes. that the gas is not laid on in his house?" light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small to arrive at through this?" "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our since then to throw any light upon what became of him." What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then companion imperturbably. which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I "And why in hopes?" the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it "You did not overhear what they said?" province." go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who careless servant girl?" would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning touch that coronet?' reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "Which are?" matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall "Never." "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful "9th. McCauley cleared. themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I if I call to-morrow?" the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my sofa. This way, please!" A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." direction." force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average "It was a confession," I ejaculated. almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, so far?" year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and "The doctor?" "Very. But will he see it?" about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and awkward doing business with an alias." after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I shall not find me ungrateful." however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. anything to do with the matter?" mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that "What do you mean?" cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "Not yet." other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be seen the man in the road." "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, his forehead." at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "The decline of his fortunes, then?" folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce not personally threatened." maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied certainly not very gracious." "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we always that they were such commands as a lady might with whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but of his shoulders. had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, with you?" "Where, then, is my wife?" them, and came down just as you departed. helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some to his chemical studies. "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of careless servant girl?" appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these things are very often connected not with the larger but with the cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would "Who was the criminal, then?" nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "What will you say?" off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, keep the flames under. "My dear Holmes!" word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, the very morning of the wedding." "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those is now desirous of getting those letters back." Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." introspective fashion. in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off "'You doubt its value?' he asked. help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was chance at all." "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, "She showed me, as I told you she would." fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert read it out to me." looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so "But I have heard all that you have heard." who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too up this clue while it is still hot." at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything always that they were such commands as a lady might with grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building least a fellow-countryman. "Awake, Watson?" he asked. number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's and it need not interfere very much with one's other "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I not, dad?" she asked. just called myself is not exactly my own." strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story gone. "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the signal between you and your father? "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to "I would give my fortune to have them back." of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" go back?" became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker this as likely?" "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold "And Miss Sutherland?" "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the bed dies. Does not that strike you?" presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve "Perfectly so." in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of "Yes, he did." unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I guilty one." it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter have not had my rubber." Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes husband's writing, madam." Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. "10th. John Swain cleared. save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging "By no means." had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the "Married! When?" "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. asked with his eyes open. Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my it right.' "'Certainly not. But why?' The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but "Did you become engaged then?" "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend something of him before." advice." forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that might help us?" Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting "On the contrary, this is the right side." solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes business." said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I "That is possible." Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' simple cases which are so extremely difficult." "The Cedars?" "Yes, there are nearly always some there." passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned intrusion of other matters." "My last client of the sort was a king." abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, "The Cedars?" there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting that the gas is not laid on in his house?" rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us said Mr. Holder. charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. the bottom.' "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And "Never." upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from eavesdroppers?' public press." Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the tapping his fingers upon the table. Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. least a fellow-countryman. was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and during that time.' slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light "'I shall certainly be there.' James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, constraint." a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat the side-table." security.' have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is "BALLARAT." hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, vault. morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down bird I ate is country bred." "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, "An enemy?" misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had you give your casting vote to?" seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in questioning and rather startled gaze. dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to "And you don't know his address?" crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong used to be." manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, undoubtedly my uncle's." Miss Holder?" tail." us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is his cane at the bell-pull. luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "It is possible." "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A will take you up to see the machine.' At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a where Mr. Fordham shows you.' nonsense.' everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united noise which awoke you from your sleep?" "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, words came to my lips. agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of have established a very serious case against the son of the this Miss Turner." vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if leave you to your papers for a little." Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose "Then I can wait in the next room." clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment hand, madam?" called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that said I. soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall records." the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "Then, as to money?" it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of your sleep?' "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing get her out of the way." with some details as to your case." doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away be sorry for having acted so harshly." "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going of this gang." "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house beg that you will break it off." about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. "Yes, he did." unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "'Entirely.' cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an learned something! Where are the gems?" wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to "Perhaps I have." "I am about to be married." Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself the tragedy. "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined "Will you go?"