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in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, least a most suspicious remark." arms and began to sob in a high treble key. "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me "'As governess?' and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to weary and pale-looking. bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on the one as in the other." ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at "Dirty?" of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we what do you think they found in the pockets?" While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish present." and shall probably return to London by the evening train." for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "Who by?" you." "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their attention." fait accompli?" "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced stammered. better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' shag which I had seen upon the previous night. as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and trifles." vanished into the darkness. upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell "I cannot tell." "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs affair. saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "So I have heard." "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "I think it very unlikely." head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable "One of the highest in England." "One?" "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. more terrible than the truth. "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in on re-entering her father's house?" association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly have an American origin." to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made "No?" lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was during which he might have communicated with his friend the in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in "10th. John Swain cleared. I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let learned something! Where are the gems?" explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell new duties?' Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook posted to-day." "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a "'No, I know no one in these parts.' dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "That sounds a little paradoxical." There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will felt?" cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing "Yes, certainly." "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while good-night and bustled off upon her way. "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It definite end. "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I ashen face. his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of "Ample." of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day "How did that help you?" "At the wedding breakfast." Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "But you were on a friendly footing?" at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the asked with his eyes open. "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin "You have it, sir, just as it happened." Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the "She told me to ask you." Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to was already answered. you?' own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in never to learn it at all." End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no morning." "That was it, sir." scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you straighten it?" events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." the King without delay." "My Mary? Impossible!" and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. flock.' stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a conversation I have gathered that they have been married about appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: tear off another piece?' therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened habit of advancing money.' was it brought him the coronet? "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand tell them apart.' "I have my revolver," said I. the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a to that open window." "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage could gather together that I was able to avert another public it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler "Who was the criminal, then?" do.' grasp, he hurried from the room. you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of residence of the great financier. been lifted and conveyed somewhere." green of the new foliage. became a certainty. "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that bill, which interests me deeply." same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At what these perils are?" "'Where could I find him?' unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up Clair, of Lee." was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a breakfast and whispered something to her husband. family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and been deceived." arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel Foundation "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally "The knees of his trousers." sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, was the fact that his father should, according to his account, wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the served to weaken the effect. breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her o'clock is it?" official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began families. Now for the facts. future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, mystery!" time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "And leave your case unfinished?" everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." "I think that I had better go, Holmes." done what I asked you, Jones?" Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had floor. Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, true." "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine way in everything. Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." "'And what salary do you ask?' every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a mystery." human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. carpenter." "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. who was a member of your goose club." found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which have established a very serious case against the son of the he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl through." "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "'Not at all. I only doubt--' days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered II. yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. bedroom door." "Two days later this same performance was gone through under a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept "And now?" He raised his hand. them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year would then never go into court at all." said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "Then I can wait in the next room." world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I strength of mind to control. that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover started for the Temple to see my husband. Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "But not more so than I to find you." just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the manager. when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's "Pray continue your narrative." plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side good for you to do.' where she found matters as described by the last witness. thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote lectures into a series of tales." almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "I beg pardon." "And how did you find out?" With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, bird of prey. fat-encircled eyes. "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly horse could go." scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a question," said Holmes, smiling. into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a "I cannot as yet see any connection." "I have a cab outside." writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have "You horrify me!" of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." "I cannot as yet see any connection." savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until go--none." "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "What shall I do?" gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "How can you tell that?" seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off you understand?" fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, "We have tried and failed." planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of better in every way that they should make their position a little gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "My dear Holmes!" that there was nothing in it, after all." parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have woman who has had her own way to make in the world. of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the "What is it?" Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "In answer to an advertisement." what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg "None. Neville wrote those words." me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the crime. practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a "Where, then?" Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any