year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to "Absolutely?" makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he "Awake, Watson?" he asked. living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me take the flies, but not before." exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "Very. But will he see it?" window when the police appeared." "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in emerged. Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you sentimental considerations in the background which would induce "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have you." attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. populous neighbourhood." statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." not as remarkable as your advertisement." road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "Yes, sir." SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. house for five minutes.' kindly on the shoulder. From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the your Highness to the police-station?" this unhappy family?" saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" "'I have heard so.' "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "What then?" do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he "But it has twice been burgled." "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, empty. me, and I could not think that his explanation of the third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which "Was your sister dressed?" cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera just ask you whether you had heard it.' nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the derbies." my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and "You horrify me." "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came do you make of it all?" "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with six. Come in!" "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham "Very well, sir. And this stone?" "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you behind me. happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "Why? What do you mean?" skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I "What is it?" for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." "It's nothing of the kind." first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a empty. reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first shall not find me ungrateful." carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who carried out of court." Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility Sutherland?" over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no strong reason behind." believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "You did not overhear what they said?" note?" The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's "Then I shall certainly come." One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but "Quite so." anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we "'Never,' said I. to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this showing my impatience. possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back ashen face. from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or the nursery. night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to if she died from some sudden fright." annoyance, but no jest. disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be this remarkable episode. your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked felt the room to be a little close.' and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, and the church but not where the lady lived." strong and stiff." material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what empty. Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "To an English lawyer named Norton." "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It "'What would be the hours?' I asked. anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "No, my brougham is waiting." minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police "No, I had a dozen." them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that hands. our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that bedroom door." afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely "Texas, I think." "Nothing." "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was where Mr. Fordham shows you.' his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very James Windibank. Voilà tout!" coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return "Stoke Moran?" said he. there were so many in the whole country as were brought together Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "The rest you will leave in our hands." first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed power." unprofitable." in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. the general public were present, then?" and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "No." flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it American. Then who could this American be, and why should he my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, conceal it?" came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in will take you up to see the machine.' paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. "Well, some hundreds of times." from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I "Where to?" continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "I am following you closely," I answered. were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the them?" "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup purpose of examination. friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his and your relations to her." "What steps will you take?" I asked. "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock you understand?" that I am arrested." such person." places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always me where it went to?" Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "Then what has happened to him?" pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted Leave Paddington by the 11:15." enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two over here." word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea will find little credit to be gained out of this case." "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a down in his armchair and closing his eyes. crowd. back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and she has been waylaid. There has been no result." "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was whether it answered to the description of any of their With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's lids now and glanced across at his visitor. He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that "So I have heard." slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already "'Yes, it was gone.' "How often?" old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by "The doctor?" and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "Yes?" understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, face and glided from the room. events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned the inner apartment." watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout was a lad." boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to "No, finished." her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently security.' of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." really the only notable feature about the thing." Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a "An enemy?" "Of what?" paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own infinite languor in his face. "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife Count Von Kramm." come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking writers could invent nothing more crude." of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you way in everything. forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had "He slept on the premises." white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon "Yes, it would be as well." was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a beg that you will break it off." cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so II. Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "Really! You surprise me." quite distinctive." "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over get her out of the way." Street. it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "Yes, at the mines." the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing charge against him will break down." came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp it." shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him "From his hat?" "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary fat-encircled eyes. Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His your most interesting statement." the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking "The gentleman I describe." very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "I should be immensely obliged to you." of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had green of the new foliage. towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well second window is the one that I jumped from." that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "The knees of his trousers." to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire least a fellow-countryman. "Bought." "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two hard-headed British jury." that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "Did you become engaged then?" are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H that I may have something better before very many minutes are "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and way in." entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further mystery!" "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want "'Never.' ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. States. transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but "Then he might have called to you?" hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the "I cannot tell." you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, make me his representative both with the servants and with the "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. there has been an enclosure here!" hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself good for you to do.' public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other ourselves in the office." his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, Holmes." particular state visit http://pglaf.org thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business there is a decided draught." you found me to-night--and running through the front room she way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to other, as fresh and trim as possible. steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the later, upon the night of May 2nd." fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I hand, madam?" endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the strength." "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. had picked up in the wood. the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love gentleman's clothes. of the one which your family is now devouring." all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was thirty. the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was for securing the situation." treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a "Who by?" fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself