better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will know what is wrong with it.' came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was directors have had misgivings upon the subject." the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back "On Monday." during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. "No, thank goodness, she did not." up this clue while it is still hot." inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which this as likely?" might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me Lestrade of Scotland Yard." there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his points to suicide?" Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend some city in a dream. Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the your sleep?' quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and interests were the same as his." "My own seal." I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon if I call to-morrow?" away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "Yes, it would be as well." the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on both be extremely obliged.' Dr. Gregory B. Newby Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project could not have written that. It is the German who is so orange pips. relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "Well?" nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the front of me. to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. It was close upon four before the door opened, and a wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a father's young wife. hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man may have an influence upon European history." ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just long narrative. glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely himself. frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I "Come in!" said he. "What office?" savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving "I don't believe it." out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case "Holmes, the busybody!" somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "And what then?" "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that "But to whom?" dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police himself. his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's "I see many objections to any such theory." "And why in hopes?" Literary Archive Foundation evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be mystery!" geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, long narrative. accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, felt the room to be a little close.' the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, "Never to return." shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "'Yes, sir.' foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile cup of tea. lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a pressing in one house as in another. the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and "Well?" "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert "That is it on the dressing-table." You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where standing smiling on the door-step. that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my "What is it, then--a fire?" methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." the dangers which encompass me." laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in never to learn it at all." brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my secret." hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a a very grave face. frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a "My dear Holmes!" you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly to Leatherhead. The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that "'Yes, it was gone.' lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "Then the page we have seen--" "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who "BALLARAT." connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' hard-headed British jury." At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been to talk it over. "Bought." whatever might befall. I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "'Never.' "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "And from a noble client?" "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached "What then?" bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an him." "We must have a cab." is worth.' "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that "About a month then." the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He the date of his supposed suicide." opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing crime." money should be paid at once.' advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and "You horrify me!" Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We attention." that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you your own bird, so if you wish--" which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a delirious. this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is "I cannot imagine." result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "Your presence might be invaluable." works. that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to from you?" neither fascinating nor artistic." "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. sofa. This way, please!" not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a skylight. answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this him!" and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll point in the dark hollow of his hand. "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite at my remark. shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the to a more successful conclusion." Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and not as remarkable as your advertisement." I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate carried out of court." very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than never to learn it at all." then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the note?" foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last the general public were present, then?" his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's enter Dr. Roylott's room." "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their the child." examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you congenial hunt. was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full him, that man would not have given me such complete information "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do "What is it?" possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such "In the cells." strength." how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here there has been an enclosure here!" said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was the iron safe, which he closed upon it. narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to business came to an end." "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." I was concerned in it." matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in some mystery and the punishment of some crime." offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was as this. Pray let me have the details." of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when even so self-evident a thing as that." corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and them?" "But how will you look?" thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "I am sure." digesting their breakfasts at home." Holmes' room. Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your page at http://pglaf.org heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the or in danger--" "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over a suggestive one." "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." "Pray be precise as to details," said he. comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, bore every mark of being an average commonplace British "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding friends, not even his own brother. "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that him to go away.' figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes "Really! You surprise me." almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush became a certainty. "'Yes, it was gone.' his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the all-comprehensive glances. had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "By no means." drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom carpenter." benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important open." facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." the little opening for the ventilator is." For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. strength in the others." touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, "My own seal." A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All I held the little printed slip to the light. wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior Surrey." remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's man. that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It "Well, it is a possible supposition." ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, Clair, of Lee." results." "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. fuss that is made over them." flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." been with you?" "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and "Her father is very rich?" however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, what these perils are?" and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. James Windibank. Voilà tout!" Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the light and attacked it." "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "Yes. He waved his hands." My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands his knees, staring into the fire. person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was