floor. reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "'There is a drive, then?' pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." The police have openly confessed that they can at present make himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after sofa. This way, please!" "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a your sleep?' feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." stepfather?" eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime fish-monger and a tide-waiter." stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her with her." near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." read it out to me." "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered straightened it out again. "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her the very letters. But what is this written above them?' preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few retorted upon me, and I on you." End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had works. that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of Surrey." opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not mystery may be cleared along those lines." brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "What I expected to see." hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner you?" his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about ceremony." 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass my special province." thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," been with you?" and looked back. the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, "And what did you see?" "And now?" I asked. PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and any more." friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. "To the police?" - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any peculiar to him. that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "So I am. Very much so." fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting closing the door. "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the to arrive at through this?" "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in him. black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours "But you would not advise me to refuse?" all?" We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at ago." Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss silent! Oh, he will be silent!' were unconscious?" his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this this man was intellectual?" There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." that threaten you." upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to It was close upon four before the door opened, and a presented more singular features than that which was associated "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own prisoner's face. gbnewby@pglaf.org the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the few hundred pounds.' police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of "'There is a drive, then?' the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining following enigmatical notices: a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me a few minutes he said that it would be all right. "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and "By no means." blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned 11:15.' astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "I warn you that they are very incomplete." George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil these bleak autumnal evenings." "Awake, Watson?" he asked. me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, "And leave your case unfinished?" "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, existence." 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide "Why? What do you mean?" "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' "You have the photograph?" unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "Which surely he restored to their owner?" it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, married her." "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own examination of the premises, but without finding anything which no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his call for it in person on Monday morning.' all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home one of them." these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible room had already been engaged for us. this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the not interfere, come what may. You understand?" Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, writers could invent nothing more crude." and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled It was close upon four before the door opened, and a "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. joking. "Yes, all." Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the main points of my analysis." "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "I never have." computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, strong and stiff." its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a tell them apart.' customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end it right.' a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should answer." spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." the loss of it. noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the this remarkable episode. "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards him to go away.' "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or mystery." graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out From what you have told me I think that it is possible that grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "That is possible." "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite away to you." in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a true." called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on and the church but not where the lady lived." central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was "It is true that I have been generally successful." could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" legal crime." takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a asked. your sleep?' found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even time." by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "So I have heard." "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free unprecedented a position." eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the husband's writing, madam." - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had colour had been driven from his face. "You are certainly joking, Holmes." a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an best detective that ever lived. I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, has little to do with my story." "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over opportunities to fix the problem. former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, "Yes, that is the Crown." thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through could go. "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." in his hands." "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any outside." "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel what is your own theory as to what took place?" prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me carriage. It was a chestnut." his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." promised to bring home. and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." was not a bird to be seen there. "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "You know me, then?" little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's hard-headed British jury." had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and think you a quite exceptional woman." business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "Did he not advertise?" a very grave face. low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were "I fear not." matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that that, and I came down." already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a detained." "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, least a most suspicious remark." 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I of note-paper. It read in this fashion: came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to she slowly sank and died without having recovered her too. were unconscious?" that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. "Eh? What was that?" even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a girl said." young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I be best to do. them present such singular features as the strange train of Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, light and attacked it." "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it used to be." is worth.' value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a have one." "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see "No." Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to morning." tied." The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "We must sit without light. He would see it through the afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "Not in a good cause." a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see have not had my rubber." "'Which dealer's?' and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I my special province." the address that was given us in the advertisement. I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have and put his glass in his pocket. again, where I was soon asleep. "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "We were both in the photograph." "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back my little problems." you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the lids now and glanced across at his visitor. this man was intellectual?" in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the "We have tried and failed." kindly on the shoulder. knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through absorbing." resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "If I can be of use." "Yes, but only for you and me." seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," you found me to-night--and running through the front room she his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the "How on earth--" how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed with you?" the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your "Then I shall certainly come." important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The careless servant girl?" I nodded again. he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and golden eyeglasses. Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern companion imperturbably. the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle