dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" next day. other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, lamp. the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my "What steps will you take?" I asked. "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices "On Monday." possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of which should have the effect of calling the attention of the passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the if I call to-morrow?" post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. hurried away. own family. with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is "Quite so. She has her freedom." There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake posted to-day." conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, "I promise," said Holmes. chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over you?" of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any retorted upon me, and I on you." national property. I was determined that the law should have its 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone pictures, libraries, or plate. a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between will he say when he returns?" remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry Where does the thing come from?' perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was was used.' "But you were on a friendly footing?" Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than "Quite so." gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and relation between them, and what the object of his repeated his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. of the one which your family is now devouring." accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came one or two very singular points about this room. For example, "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper over his head with a sweet womanly caress. "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "It certainly sounds feasible." character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter the Red-headed League." neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the beyond words. "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." "What!" he roared. o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "But what is it you wish?" his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the up this clue while it is still hot." least a fellow-countryman. "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. This is what he says: him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "What then?" Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in father's place of business?" to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was "Her father is very rich?" stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. "I cannot think." empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional recover the gem." knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian "Always." "And did you observe any change in her then?" scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast "What are they?" signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "You have carte blanche." Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a "'I have already given you my word.' "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we over part of the map. "What do you read?" states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." Young McCarthy must be got off, however." world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the room. part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a forecastle of an emigrant ship. Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen over his head with a sweet womanly caress. scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he to arrive at through this?" at once, for I have only half an hour." Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "But how could you guess what the motive was?" saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "Well, some hundreds of times." glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "Yes?" free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian and a shock of very red hair. passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It with the outside air!" "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the other, as fresh and trim as possible. collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of legal crime." http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "I will try. What is it?" this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a "Married! When?" and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, stalked out of the room. agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came writing, and yet I know it well." ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. showing my impatience. "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage said I. "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in secret." to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of "I think that it is very probable." acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one "She will not sell." why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with passage and a tap at the door. ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS any little problem which you may submit to me." money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London in the dead of the night?' preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any things are very often connected not with the larger but with the yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must was the fact that his father should, according to his account, matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting was not a bird to be seen there. upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his his cane at the bell-pull. was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon "How on earth--" pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom bearing upon the case." lost his Christmas dinner." "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "Yes, the wine-cellar." the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "I will not look." "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me existence." case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "The murder was done with it." shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked "Ah!" with the outside air!" quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the "I don't say that. Perhaps." "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal "Who by?" "Yes, sir." I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET away in different directions, and I went off to make my own had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that matters immensely." reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to noble correspondent could be. my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint Sholtos." governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "Yes." "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "Well." his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the and inquire as to the address." "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." very old mansion. should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the directly by questioning you." and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and danger is over." "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the think, you have already met." he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during and a shock of very red hair. "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, "The vanishing of the lady." left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of "Her father is very rich?" "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, "You will not go there first?" beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, "It is his hat." All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home "I was afraid that you were engaged." appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of feature." where she found matters as described by the last witness. copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his crowd. hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "No, I think that I'll take it." have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet one of the states of the Union." a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to man. It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they chance." in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the you give your casting vote to?" vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you the ceiling. lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged "VIOLET HUNTER." neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you evidence," I remarked. wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to point our research must commence, and we will begin it by "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of "Murdered?" "Have you it here?" The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might and no precautions can guard against." by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate of Mr. Rucastle's." it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their went to the Alpha were town bred." to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the the bottom.' "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips what I may call a really hard day's work." of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of as he remarks, very much against the son." but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen what is your own theory as to what took place?" landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "It is possible." sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story dead, shall be safe with us." the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when "Holmes, the busybody!" rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not spare." American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "One?" "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I and have this put in the evening papers." the ceiling. I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client enter into my head. bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked The note was undated, and without either signature or address. opened a pocket-book and took out a note. You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where the roots.