his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. "Nothing." think you a quite exceptional woman." shoulder; "he's all right." it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter what is your own theory as to what took place?" "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than "Did you become engaged then?" six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. with you?" acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "Get out!" said he. several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the "A confidential servant?" and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any some place of shelter and let the county police know what has he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there presented more singular features than that which was associated "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. wall." of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch and glanced through. "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a returned to France?" "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." your most interesting statement." "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." started for the Temple to see my husband. like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying whether it answered to the description of any of their unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall acted in my house last night?" some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "Will you go?" against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. to you." very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot vault. in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "It looks newer than the other things?" happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "But she will refuse." "But you would not advise me to refuse?" its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "He slept on the premises." however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were constraint." to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible "How long did she speak to this Alice?" that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a this Miss Turner." respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own o'clock is it?" letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but if only as a check to my own memory." arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go four million human beings all jostling each other within the how narrow had been my escape. "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. "How can you tell that?" higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "That also I could fathom." "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was "Frequently." "Was your sister dressed?" "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "Married! When?" Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to maid will bring up your coffee." this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is fattened it expressly for you.' disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than American. Then who could this American be, and why should he his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging drawing your inferences." machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "Stolen, then." hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a if only as a check to my own memory." his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of or in danger--" suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet James Windibank. Voilà tout!" arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a asked. "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to child?' spark where all is dark to me." down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel stepfather?" Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. call you and give you the chance." To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the asked with his eyes open. "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty was a perfect sample of the class. moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss Foundation sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during empty. "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "That you are never beaten." case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are neither fascinating nor artistic." box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say lamp. that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. The note was undated, and without either signature or address. "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that "My own seal." dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said I nodded again. I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant to change my dress. "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that desk. at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, the best of training." away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "'There is a drive, then?' law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my had this final quarrel? "How did you trace it, then?" "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I "I will, Miss Turner." piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. fashion which was peculiar to him. a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety "How often?" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project the morning and make my own way in the world.' "And what then?" and no precautions can guard against." round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is visitors." these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you learned something! Where are the gems?" the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at newspaper selections." but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own nice household for a young lady." that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. "Thank you. Pray proceed." "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." sneer upon his pale face. man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple tapping his fingers upon the table. case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune of note-paper. It read in this fashion: Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it John Swain, of St. Augustine. confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a "Certainly." ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has present." I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the "None." only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. held up the lantern and gazed about him. other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt conduct the inquiry." however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a "It is his hat." so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies "We have tried and failed." "'How far from the body?' detained." "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." "Never to return." unkempt, staring out at me. this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "What then?" humiliation." there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. or in danger--" and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled "Yes, he did." of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "I fear not." observed. and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty ran thus: over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which whereabouts. "'What do you call purely nominal?' from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last murdered man." depend upon your compliance." admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our away into the river." "'And what salary do you ask?' second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." "Dr. Becher's." assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "Whose house is it?" Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, knowledge of the world." it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no "No good news?" on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "No, my brougham is waiting." belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which true." was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "By no means." was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom one's self under obligations.' LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. asked with his eyes open. eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "And I to find an enemy." "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a at once, for I have only half an hour." hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, absolutely follow my advice in every respect." was feeling which was the fattest.' should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the were wasted." cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock threw himself down with his face to the pillow. this poor creature." "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the the tragedy. afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no works. "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman Lestrade of Scotland Yard." jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to imbecility!" he cried. from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. miles off. and laid it on the table. "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from Does that suggest anything?" pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular less than 26s. 4d. pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, again on its way. brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had "I have my revolver," said I. three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an once more. back alive. her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "Absolutely none." was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak night.' said he. "Your French gold?" very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just the best of training." great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss when your master had gone out." "'What then?' I asked. comes from the middle window." sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, fishes. self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered true." served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of