"The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, affection." slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from "Bought." to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' away in different directions, and I went off to make my own brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler own family. friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of know all about it," he snarled. scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a "Well?" about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "That is possible." abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven stepfather?" foot. owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low at my remark. "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable "Will you bet, then?" "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in such attractions and accomplishments?' Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a a good hundred miles off by now." without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who like that before?" half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "No, my brougham is waiting." We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was "And why?" "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "Yes, I have one waiting." "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she unprecedented a position." "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable outside. "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be me. fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out straighten it?" with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was fact, we may call it conclusive." other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still him and tried to hold him back. had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to opportunities to fix the problem. outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "I cannot tell." business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining attention." on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend "We were both in the photograph." my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a points to suicide?" know what is wrong with it.' ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY feature." were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to from the brougham. had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming overpowering excitement and concern. thought that she would have been so carried away." said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and voice. been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "No." follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your "But your client--" The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the this Miss Turner." Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the "I cannot imagine." flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "'Entirely.' explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the father's young wife. "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a read it out to me." round and wave him away like that.' fatally injured? ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying "'Then let me do so?' obstinate." "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did the ceiling. a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that some place of shelter and let the county police know what has - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying hour?' five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "Not I." As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, there is a decided draught." murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no felt?" glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "And your father? Did you tell him?" permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." a good hundred miles off by now." the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have companion quietly. doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which you give your casting vote to?" "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, "A call for help, you thought?" "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. "That was it, sir." license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I "What shall I do?" had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and awaited us upon the table. murdered man." out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three questioning and rather startled gaze. agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few taking in every detail of the apartment. should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "Where to?" instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but reach." "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise throat." residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short night.' said he. something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City "'Certainly,' I answered. all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon open." very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "Look there!" said he. gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain "Yes, that is the Crown." "And sit in the dark?" the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason "No bad?" "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I married her." depend upon your compliance." the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. "But she could not love him." why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss The events in question occurred in the early days of my as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an James Windibank. Voilà tout!" "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "Really! You surprise me." "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin point in the dark hollow of his hand. tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair over his head with a sweet womanly caress. "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. was it brought him the coronet? "But we can't all be." "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still of them has the shutters up.' are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a you." engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, hair?' "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot "I was mad--insane." the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in "'I have heard so.' waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such been." Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would written, and locked the door of the office after me. effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar generous with you in money matters.' coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent DISSOLVED. since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, paper in the air. "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "Which surely he restored to their owner?" informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not noise which awoke you from your sleep?" affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the orange pips. "Yes, only one." people in all walks of life. the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "Stoke Moran?" said he. my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is "What have you done?" asked Holmes. arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with to change my dress. Arthur Conan Doyle "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take child?' who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or events, Mr. Windibank!" I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel trifles." far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There "I am sure." happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then you want, then?' "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "Very much so." this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may breakfast?" of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was "I have come for advice." called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very ways of our fellow-men." have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the and glanced through. "And how did he make his money?" something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "I saw her in conversation with her maid." "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I with you?" snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates front of me. "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." matter." you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms the Assizes." the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this "'Entirely.' prison!" The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for "ARAT," I read. is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your me." bell. Holmes whistled. which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, said he. play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a disturbance in my wife." usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" remarked. "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I likely to be some crony of the landlady's." Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out or other trace. But how on earth--" we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted and the whole place is in a blaze." flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly Munro.' states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your upon a handsome competence. "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my him to be an active member of the medical profession." and glanced through. "I have hopes." doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is "Texas, I think." beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. "What of the rat, then?" or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the outside." all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several "My last client of the sort was a king." me. You must get home instantly and act." "Thank you. And your address?" "Very well, sir. And this stone?" One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "No." hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low only touch the interest." "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand "Yes, that is the Crown." fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT it. You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of deduce something from that?" the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed "Nearly eleven." "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would she to prove their authenticity?" flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend "Pray be precise as to details," said he.