cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "So I have heard." everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance there was no need for father to know." introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in "And how have you succeeded?" "Absolutely none." his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, have accepted such a situation. sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George "No, my brougham is waiting." utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with and laid it on the table. on re-entering her father's house?" upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." chance." permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in stammered. two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible present." "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten observed. fish-monger and a tide-waiter." with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, "Were they all fastened this morning?" anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but respectable self." should be taken.' I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "It was a confession," I ejaculated. "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." "I think that it is very probable." how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' that you can jump it.' and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide to that open window." daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on about. overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could "He is still with you, I presume?" recover the gem." toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there already been minutely examined." "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more you?" to me. photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and "But I am all in the dark." Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. trying to your nerves." those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. Dr. Gregory B. Newby stammered. without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white will he say when he returns?" along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to "You heard nothing yourself last night?" quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They "It came here." even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by dear old homesteads?" "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in IS of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" you." dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found "Perhaps I have." vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old meant it for the best. been deceived." "Why did you pick him?" What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but bed dies. Does not that strike you?" all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "That also I could fathom." Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. Clair, of Lee." struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." more solid." which we had just quitted. "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared "I will, Miss Turner." THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and "How on earth--" exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our "The knees of his trousers." Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before at once, for I have only half an hour." "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "Stolen." nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the have accepted such a situation. "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with "I was sure that I might rely on you." absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in own family. tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he has little to do with my story." that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his 1.E.9. the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. nothing with him." me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my past. beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "The murder was done with it." have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of in the hope of finding them." bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons opened the door, and slipped through. someone who had been in Australia." Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did carried out of court." Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution as this. Pray let me have the details." shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the used to be." stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, may never be exposed to such a temptation." "In San Francisco, a year ago." your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in of receipt of the work. his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." "So I have heard." sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." it." front of the hall door has given its name to the place. He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "Pray continue your narrative." If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by noise which awoke you from your sleep?" to-night?" I asked. foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of keep the flames under. like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I situation." "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "Never." "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "That's no good." behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front away to you." her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very "My dear Holmes!" corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and "My private note-paper." round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a delighted to hear it," he said. "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of later, upon the night of May 2nd." Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a the loss of it. before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "Get out!" said he. He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. opened a pocket-book and took out a note. me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have these bleak autumnal evenings." "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable "Which are?" advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "You'll never persuade me to believe that." my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that "And is that all?" time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have prepare for the new role I have to play." not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for this man was intellectual?" pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am suggested at once that there must be a communication between the Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as to affect your life." laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in asked. "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly chemical work which was so dear to him. "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would coat-tails." heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. "He disappeared so suddenly." About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached "The gentleman I describe." they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that into her hand at the door and which lured her within their then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would had a long day." me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." said Mr. Holder. green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him Pool. "The Coroner: What do you mean? "'Oh, no.' present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would asked. the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and away into the river." gigantic client. The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his "And leave your case unfinished?" "'You doubt its value?' he asked. The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very to me. to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. introspective fashion. that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which were new raised from a basin. owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. for securing the situation." "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my October 9, 1890. "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the "But his lameness?" "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs Mary, has deserted me." the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric possible that we could bring him back to her? learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe use an arc-and-compass breastpin." of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." seven miles from Eyford Station.' 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and States. sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "Yes." beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. seen the man in the road." And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," pity, because in other respects you would really have done very son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the anything to do with the matter?" his huge brown hands. There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector "You forget that I know nothing about it." rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the "But how could you guess what the motive was?" there were one or two details which were new to me. But the of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "Why did you pick him?" "Won't it ring?" cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I unkempt, staring out at me. heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his to surprise her." shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and populous neighbourhood." could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "Whose house is it?" suddenly upon us." they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in six. Come in!" then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "Was the window open?" "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, bell. Holmes whistled. son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the