foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and woman who has had her own way to make in the world. send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and it right.' "Absolutely none." The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. "'Is 4 pounds a week.' Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in wedding?" Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a been deceived." "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air roused himself from his reverie. Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a I approached. "No." chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for think that any burglar could have done. interested in these little problems, and since you are good Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. passage and a tap at the door. reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil bed dies. Does not that strike you?" "I came to find a friend." planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a the Assizes." absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, shoulder. sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "But we can't all be." I. Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended words came to my lips. eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "I think that it is very probable." Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took disappearance of the bride.'" speckled band?" face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the "If so, much may have happened between." have accepted such a situation. where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "Quite so." Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents "And I say east," said my patient. "And your mother is alive?" I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It "Did you observe the colour?" lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have are, and they are waiting for us." "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion call it cruel." King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking of Mr. Rucastle's." and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he business came to an end." helping a boy to put up the shutters. "She walked into the breakfast-room." "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to been anything against him. He had for years been known as a companion imperturbably. Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less call for protection in the marriage market, for the present believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from crowd. ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. "Why, what do you mean?" pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to eat it." drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' noble correspondent could be. fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his these bleak autumnal evenings." even of instruction." "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such words came to my lips. a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had leave you to your papers for a little." Doctor, of the paper and the date." the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "What can you not understand?" know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which Holmes' thin, eager face. seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that new duties?' equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. "What have you done?" asked Holmes. eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut ran thus: "Yes, that is the Crown." "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil business in the City. She little knew what. "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your not fit the lock." been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident lectures into a series of tales." return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to over part of the map. "What do you read?" as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "My opinion is in no way altered." it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no have had none more fantastic than this." glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the looking up at the numbers of the houses." "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "My private note-paper." about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than I shall continue with my miserable story. "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I colour had been driven from his face. was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any "I beg pardon." little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some "He is still with you, I presume?" "He is still with you, I presume?" When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average your Highness to the police-station?" searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "Well?" but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it prisoner's face. his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose there has been an enclosure here!" "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little "You are certainly joking, Holmes." congratulate you again." cigars in the box." up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and undoubtedly my uncle's." retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some on re-entering her father's house?" For additional contact information: depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it "'Stolen!' he cried. livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal distinguish the words: computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked character. beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and troubles have been weighing upon his mind. It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "That is easily got." "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "But how did you gain them?" disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our "How long did she speak to this Alice?" I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "'Yes, I promise.' however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. go--none." have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." 'I should be able to look after that for you.' hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely your billet.' to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of during which he might have communicated with his friend the in the port of London." three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about hopeless attempt at recovering them." It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a individual and becomes the badge of a society." "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "Was he the only applicant?" presented more singular features than that which was associated much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "And why in hopes?" "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me stammered. noise which awoke you from your sleep?" The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." tail." know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a his fortune, and I went back to pa. all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, within hail.' vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the the side-table." "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "'What then?' I asked. about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began come either from the window or the door. My attention was Doctor, of the paper and the date." as the one I chose?' "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "No bad?" her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind few hundred pounds.' whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "Yes, but only for you and me." away to you." wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. "I cannot imagine." yards of it?' determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's "And the murderer?" constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "Certainly." and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in me upon any point which I do not make clear." "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "Perfectly so." would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a minor matters until to-morrow." half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I situation." facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, case-book, which he consulted. to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of forbidden door. "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. "One of the highest in England." what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the closing the door. furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official note?" Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and little trying to do so much typewriting?" "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which my former friend and companion. "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, respectable self." A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "It surprised me." village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We the one as in the other." "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he best detective that ever lived. to a light-house. instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my held up the lantern and gazed about him. copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and go back?" writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able lamp. own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and "Yes." my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, is worth.' It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age occupations.' My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be developed." "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a the inner apartment." again, where I was soon asleep. in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he points to suicide?" empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was the coronet in his hands?" but preventing her from injuring another. secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was you give your casting vote to?" secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless sit on the left-hand side of the driver." year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I