these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. suddenly upon us." "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. outside." leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with back alive. the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case security.' immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main answered with a sidelong glance. the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, "Nothing." the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, you?" look dissatisfied." Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk been with you?" lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over guilty parties." with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This round with crates and massive boxes. to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. in the port of London." two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "Of Friday, June 19th." our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked to his chemical studies. and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From your billet.' call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were in a very precise fashion." conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried matter." "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort became a certainty. "But how did you gain them?" once more on the important position which you have been fortunate "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt "To ruin me." electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and that you wished to speak to me?' with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little always that they were such commands as a lady might with London for the present?" may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able long narrative. think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more "Then I shall certainly come." Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "No more words. Get out!" pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words "Indeed! Whose, then?" hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady not interfere, come what may. You understand?" "Dr. Becher's." instituted." journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been "Not particularly." "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." any more." "My photograph." "My last client of the sort was a king." warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a disappearance of the bride.'" "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even for its centre. "One of the highest in England." "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He views." lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "And your father? Did you tell him?" had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "Only as much as we can deduce." appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him 'I should be able to look after that for you.' about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "And how have you succeeded?" If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling his huge brown hands. was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, became a certainty. "What then?" mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." business came to an end." of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all "My stepfather's business papers." prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the fear." Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was could not have written that. It is the German who is so no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers colour had been driven from his face. the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined it means?" at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait highroad, where all traces were lost. arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." man. I know him from the photograph." cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood stammered. problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when "How do you know, then?" feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of happened." "Here?" Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. of fine shops and stately business premises that they really to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" happened." 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not who was a member of your goose club." magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "Not particularly." "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told she has been waylaid. There has been no result." hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the was the fact that his father should, according to his account, Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third companion imperturbably. harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." if she died from some sudden fright." attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate "Entirely." corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the "'Never,' said I. stepfather?" "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by singular points about the case. What did the police think of the and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always States. while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge she slowly sank and died without having recovered her photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the straighten it?" "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of window when the police appeared." there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about there!' the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the This is what he says: beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. like gravel from a pit.' orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was "I cannot say that I have." step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in that you saw all that I did." When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and "I would pay ten." known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, hour." opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, "Pray be precise as to details," said he. increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa "And sit in the dark?" the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared "How did you trace it, then?" "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I asked with his eyes open. from you?" Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into minor matters until to-morrow." crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between a suggestive one." and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers both be extremely obliged.' sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly redistribution. his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found observed. "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out never to learn it at all." to Leatherhead. stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his "At what time?" Leave Paddington by the 11:15." alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "And how in the world did you find them?" stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by The summons was a brief and urgent one. the very letters. But what is this written above them?' situation." "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which Holmes' room. frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker colour had been driven from his face. three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the interested in these little problems, and since you are good as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much me where it went to?" into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable the south-west, I see." so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had his face which made him a very different person to the round, back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a "Thank you. And your address?" "I say it is." Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "The vanishing of the lady." "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, "I would pay ten." of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said nonsense.' "'You cannot say what it was?' array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "Where did he live, then?" common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at are, and they are waiting for us." "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "Yes, at the mines." "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. "That was it, sir." "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who locked. to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. the little opening for the ventilator is." not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts "By no means." place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a written, and locked the door of the office after me. morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make "Your French gold?" paper in the air. "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, the date of his supposed suicide." four million human beings all jostling each other within the bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I had died away into the silence from which it rose. "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which friend's singular character. the morning and make my own way in the world.' essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards "I have hopes." already been minutely examined." here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from delirious. you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, train from Paddington which would bring you there at about time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the one which it was hard to resist. some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so hands. train.' the inner apartment." "What will you say?" and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have