"You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the "It is no ordinary one." to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than some terrible trap for her." We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: "And when will you call?" "You are all wrong." "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be "You know me, then?" the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The any little problem which you may submit to me." laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried certainly do as you advise." railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his started for the Temple to see my husband. "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with photograph a cabinet?" and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an were new raised from a basin. with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "We must have a cab." "Not social, then?" it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what populous neighbourhood." face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at "'Which dealer's?' "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were were wasted." firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and and I shall be with you presently." in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, "You don't mind breaking the law?" search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him one of them." seven miles from Eyford Station.' bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile front of me. "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "'Never,' said I. of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw was lame." gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' call it cruel." back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a joking. nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every detective. come either from the window or the door. My attention was little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and already been minutely examined." from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "Of what?" hurried away. was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, opened the door, and slipped through. window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House brought there to personate someone, and the real person is stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of The events in question occurred in the early days of my this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are "'Why that?' I asks. walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and ways including including checks, online payments and credit card eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so "I came to find a friend." was lame." would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was how narrow had been my escape. fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he orange pips. very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the "But you can know nothing of this?" way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the noting anything else of interest. that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with notes," he said. "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and face and glided from the room. there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" records." there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who and your relations to her." It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, hereditary King of Bohemia." my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my served to weaken the effect. downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a with her." which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. made his money." money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his "Was the window open?" nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her obstinate." which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, "Yes." lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "He might." not within a twentieth part of the market price." results." "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "No more words. Get out!" gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms matters immensely." "'Stolen!' he cried. is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my she might be summoned. the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of weigh very heavily upon my conscience." "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: helping a boy to put up the shutters. convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole murdered man." where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "Holmes, the busybody!" ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself you in yours." conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "The best possible." who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our "But you can know nothing of this?" other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "You have carte blanche." Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered "At the wedding breakfast." "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "No, I am descending." excitement. "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "What are they?" conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. London for the present?" during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they out." unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, child?' inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods newspaper selections." are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At was a loud and authoritative tap. "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you sentimental considerations in the background which would induce right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his the general public were present, then?" neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a without a word or a look. beyond words. across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in swore that no one else had been in the front room during the she has been waylaid. There has been no result." from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would "It is very kind of you." "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if have had none more fantastic than this." now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." place no limit on the sum I may draw." upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who "How did you trace it, then?" paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the "Perhaps I have." through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for voice. are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "And you thought he was pulled back?" examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. call it cruel." - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been cheerful." beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, who was a member of your goose club." "I cannot tell." to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "Was he the only applicant?" have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it his face. unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My interests were the same as his." her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "I saw her in conversation with her maid." with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The III. in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who works. See paragraph 1.E below. name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were which are rolled in Rotterdam." spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, chance at all." "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said arrested. You then--" "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of was a loud and authoritative tap. When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he question you as to those details which seem to me to be most "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts upon an income of about 60 pounds." companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same "How do you know, then?" "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" "I say it is." Cross for the Continent." "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which better grown goose." may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, "Quite so. She has her freedom." into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. again on its way. "You think that he is dead?" "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" "Have you her photograph?" carried out of court." until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, spark where all is dark to me." test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" lectures into a series of tales." drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email fish-monger and a tide-waiter." heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy figure." foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps at once, for I have only half an hour." She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the murdered man." This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I affection." severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of fashion which was peculiar to him. general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "Precisely." Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "It surprised me." "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' correct than the official force." focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "Why, it's a dummy," said he. They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that you?' "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the