"You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." your co-operation." "On your arm?" There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "Which surely he restored to their owner?" side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very results." down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "That also I could fathom." "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one "If I can be of use." have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and "Very truly yours, have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. suspect him." The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after copied or distributed: not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was of the one which your family is now devouring." with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We This is what he says: If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "Dirty?" the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an up this clue while it is still hot." straightened it out again. "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to mystery." since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from in this note: Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure you?" "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from character. "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I "No. His orders were to stay in the house." however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were "Oh, the cause is excellent!" would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without kindly on the shoulder. disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you results." can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "That you are never beaten." cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, "That also I could fathom." power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards only touch the interest." "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from that the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after You can understand that this register and diary may implicate tension within him. scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I the child." of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are photograph?" two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in directly by questioning you." It was close upon four before the door opened, and a his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered "Nothing." "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the "There are none." "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" went to the Alpha were town bred." should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss here." vague figure huddled up in the darkness. interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by passage and a tap at the door. "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do again on its way. "I promise," said Holmes. "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De "'What would be the hours?' I asked. across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide father's young wife. and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's which I could not give. He asked for Alice. knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most promised to bring home. the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we examination of the premises, but without finding anything which a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed soul! here is her carriage at the door." that threaten you." "Here?" purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "'Certainly,' I answered. case-book, which he consulted. "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose were unconscious?" see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting like that before?" The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate digesting their breakfasts at home." while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the Farm upon the left." heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main seen the man in the road." the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have Pope's Court. deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely charge against him will break down." cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well said I. "And what did you see?" signal between you and your father? you." I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal is so. I know all about McCarthy." the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "But your client--" autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a mystery." instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in father's place of business?" really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as "And how?" shoulder. "I have hopes." built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the or other trace. But how on earth--" insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not the coronet at all injured?" all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy chambers. "What is it?" I leave." electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to "Then how many are there?" everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the "The doctor?" presented more singular features than that which was associated "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "And what did you learn from him?" the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the train from Paddington which would bring you there at about "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little your sleep?' shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "Look there!" said he. the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "No, distinctly professional." Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me are, I think, all that we need." could not have written that. It is the German who is so controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do breakfast and whispered something to her husband. errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had be there in time for your coming." "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me seven miles from Eyford Station.' "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the "But you can know nothing of this?" sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight disturbance in my wife." breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two of the way of danger. has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "Bought." provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't completely overtopped every other consideration that we both fear." moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an "That sounds a little paradoxical." object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "No." excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "And I say east," said my patient. "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front remarked. tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the dramatic, in fact." sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her "Nearly eleven." opportunities to fix the problem. quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many of the one which your family is now devouring." The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A in his hands." bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's delighted to hear it," he said. and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." room?" clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind the side-table." "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and the station." "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first them?" as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, "Yes, but only for you and me." 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat "What?" "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he village inn over there?" practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he hardly wander." and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the "Then I do not see the point." in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. question you as to those details which seem to me to be most the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. I nodded to show that I had heard. made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he enter Dr. Roylott's room." it." woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been "'Then let me do so?' to talk it over. could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly some place of shelter and let the county police know what has "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance "You forget that I know nothing about it." stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already could not account in any way for the presence of the missing I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "It is true that I have been generally successful." could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass way: "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." forehead. There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector annoyance, but no jest. table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some so far?" suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told and have this put in the evening papers." chamber." Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. "It was." laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, "Not him." obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in