not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised there were so many in the whole country as were brought together my special province." and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" "What do you mean?" third from London." gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. and inquire as to the address." the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for to have been novel and of interest." and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too now. It seems that there had been some informality about their the King without delay." "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "Pray be precise as to details," said he. permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. for securing the situation." gone. hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "And sit in the dark?" lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I about here speaks of his kindness to him." "That is it on the dressing-table." Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' about. He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would the running down." one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and touch that coronet?' any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. upon the shelf for the interim." bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the joking. not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the "Yes. He waved his hands." paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the trying to your nerves." are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by burst out into a roar of laughter. wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was "Pray tell us what has happened to you." the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. "'Certainly,' I answered. "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "Married! When?" "I saw her in conversation with her maid." public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a himself to tell his story. "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding "'What are you doing there?' he asked. business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the it? Did I buy the geese off you?" "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "I cannot tell." slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, the Assizes." at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "And your mother is alive?" Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news of receipt of the work. with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place "I cannot imagine." he. constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "Here?" she slowly sank and died without having recovered her that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he depend upon your compliance." bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a there were one or two details which were new to me. But the "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "The King of Scandinavia." feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "But what is it you wish?" it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." once more on the important position which you have been fortunate envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" "It is his hat." "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the maiden herself was most instructive." shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not awkward doing business with an alias." which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "Is he quiet?" and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, what is your own theory as to what took place?" "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London best detective that ever lived. We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford "Breckinridge is his name." refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, he bowed and left the room without another word. was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was introspective fashion. house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "But you have hopes?" really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow crime. telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "What, then, did Peterson do?" plantation.' emerged. Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think there in twenty minutes." over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's when your master had gone out." have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found his forehead." revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties "By no means." standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I "And that is--" and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I "But it has twice been burgled." was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when his forehead." Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at "Have you it here?" my former friend and companion. and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best hurried by. upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less at a side door. high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a have been better. It is all right." given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have chance at all." heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "Why serious?" here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all sneer upon his pale face. return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come beg that you will break it off." "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the answered with a sidelong glance. especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been McCarthy's innocence. town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for without a word or a look. jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a note?" and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has "One?" said I. something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "Dirty?" pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so writer." "Why did you pick him?" the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done during that time.' above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez asked. and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his there in twenty minutes." which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut Chief Executive and Director your Highness to the police-station?" "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird front of me. her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." drawing your inferences." "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black situation." cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from "It is very clear." money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they considering the formidable letters which were received by himself of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "But I have heard all that you have heard." Watson," he said cordially. I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while "'I have heard so.' door?" known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that the matter?" "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy "Oh, fresh and glossy." afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither James Windibank. Voilà tout!" the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular occupations.' newspaper selections." "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. "And that is--" "I have solved it." pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you envelope. "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning prison!" which I could not give. He asked for Alice. there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply man. mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "Certainly." lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar me. You must get home instantly and act." There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the made his money." "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it off." "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to more terrible than the truth. was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he throat." strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since his fortune, and I went back to pa. whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. "From his hat?" explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's to change my dress. took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers ventilator." awkward doing business with an alias." states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments I took the paper from him and read as follows: didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I certainly not very gracious." are windows in it, of course?" rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable page at http://pglaf.org Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it "And how did he make his money?" very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I I held the little printed slip to the light. crime. quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a that he has suffered." bedroom door." the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That and I shall be with you presently." our word." tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a my room." Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess papers on the sundial.'" before, for it was considerably after midnight. together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same bedroom door." "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible and no precautions can guard against." "Come in!" said he. 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it mysterious business." in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us your Highness to the police-station?" your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I