"'And what are they worth?' I asked. as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in present." aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was just called myself is not exactly my own." "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of knowledge of the world." "Was the window open?" horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. hereditary King of Bohemia." "And what did you see?" "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of "She told me to ask you." practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave away into the river." better in every way that they should make their position a little "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had "And how did he make his money?" about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. lamp. "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in do.' "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" putting in the horse. purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly the bottom.' "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, charged with?" "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. the matter?" weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical himself to tell his story. to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt "No good news?" distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter this Miss Turner." by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom overpowering excitement and concern. on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our you in yours." "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the she has been waylaid. There has been no result." Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "Absolutely?" her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me go back?" turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my was a loud and authoritative tap. The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his sooner or later she must fall a victim. "What have you to say now?" you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "You have a clue?" present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" better grown goose." very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." the coronet in his hands?" "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." so.' trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." of the efforts of the United States government and of the better sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." "Now, then, what's the last entry?" "And how in the world did you find them?" stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "I shall most certainly do so." springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was young Openshaw's." breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up be best to do. "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and later, upon the night of May 2nd." particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond "What do you make of that, Watson?" son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in them?" house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, the armchair which I pushed forward for him. new acquaintance to Baker Street. months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight other, as fresh and trim as possible. upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of see me here to avoid scandal." "'What then?' I asked. distance from the station, and there we found the young lady a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished carried out of court." in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to intimate personal affairs in this public manner." how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project we went to search for him, face downward in a little out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "Nothing." customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. that there was nothing in it, after all." Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features "In which, sir?" lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." man. I know him from the photograph." "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured "I should be immensely obliged to you." son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), be there in time for your coming." "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than "Stolen, then." and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the "Pray do so." "But how did you gain them?" coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had note?" his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It light and attacked it." until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said galvanised. clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally had formerly been in part my own. she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon up this clue while it is still hot." London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to was not a bird to be seen there. her also." You want to know what became of those geese?" but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must people in all walks of life. was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but "None." a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." appeared upon the scene." you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake gone before you can get him to hospital." against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential "Breckinridge is his name." surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I "It was." of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to had a long day." must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room "When did she vanish, then?" "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no the so-precious time, but come!' peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and miles off. at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the charged with?" "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a "How about poison?" going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I digesting their breakfasts at home." most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, guilty parties." "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was I held the little printed slip to the light. "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. chance at all." "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my ill-usage at the hands of fortune. father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was "Pray tell us what has happened to you." husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his the house with me." "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." "Married! When?" "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came said I. the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." was a loud and authoritative tap. slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the "Married! When?" so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was again on its way. thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting and put his glass in his pocket. empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second was a loud and authoritative tap. handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even my little problems." I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these "I shall most certainly do so." truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of unkempt, staring out at me. correct than the official force." and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should problems help me to do so." of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be views." terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" tell him that I know him to be innocent." passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he "How are you getting on?" to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." arrangements." "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "'How far from the body?' nonsense.' "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were shall not find me ungrateful." looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out your sleep?' trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and meant it for the best. "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months very morning of my second wedding." of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps foresight and the moral retrogression?" is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." his knees, staring into the fire. footfalls from the street. "Nothing." Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you galvanised. "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came fait accompli?" chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. Serpentine Avenue. "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until side. "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, what do you think they found in the pockets?" "Of what?" lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from straighten it?" interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by at home. almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it which our visitor detailed to us. broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary the inquest, and which are worth considering." little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes help us in this matter." "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I "You forget that I know nothing about it." stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor to tell." "What will you do, then?" paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be look upon these things in a different way." of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little "I shall be delighted." lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of Holmes. Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "What have you to say now?" written. His name is Francis Prosper." reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full outside. happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with nights." at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, wedding?" his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, "And your father? Did you tell him?" with some details as to your case." breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing trifles." "Yes, but only for you and me." bled considerably." second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide outside. call it cruel." devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." made his money." thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen