came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. it right.' "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it noise which awoke you from your sleep?" "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 even of instruction." It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little "The best possible." 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was me what he had done with the three missing stones. "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the definite end. returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "'No, I know no one in these parts.' were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out if she died from some sudden fright." and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a them present such singular features as the strange train of "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of "It is true that I have been generally successful." "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back call it cruel." confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from the Red-headed League." One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we not fit the lock." occupations.' "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as weary and pale-looking. "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern very morning of my second wedding." as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather "Yesterday." and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of some mystery and the punishment of some crime." science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in "Perfectly so." home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife I approached. in a very precise fashion." is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather "None." presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other prove to be little relation between the different incidents of adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. crowd. wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey invisible to me," I remarked. the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and children over to America with him, so that I found myself without job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought of your young ladies.' 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination cigar and let me expound." business in the City. She little knew what. "My private note-paper." "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some suggested at once that there must be a communication between the he. human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from there has been an enclosure here!" "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What You want to know what became of those geese?" his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." which should have the effect of calling the attention of the it." Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, someone who had been in Australia." money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the redistribution. Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do "He said that you could solve anything." a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the nonsense.' was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I furiously. though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "You have compromised yourself seriously." "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "We were both in the photograph." "And how did he make his money?" a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to "On the contrary, this is the right side." "You are all wrong." "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand "Yes. He waved his hands." pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were infinite languor in his face. room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had about here speaks of his kindness to him." into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in "What!" he roared. piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. as he folded up the epistle. quite distinctive." whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he Young McCarthy must be got off, however." every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it are, and they are waiting for us." door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the at home. the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I strange features which were associated with the two crimes which up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear there." heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with "Come in!" said he. 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the the dangers which encompass me." severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad "Which surely he restored to their owner?" handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my villagers almost as much as their master. rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do without success. At last the little money which I had saved began "What then?" which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few conclusions. specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back this man was intellectual?" science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me "That is also quite modern," said the lady. once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George young Openshaw's." corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his Surrey." delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At attention." "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it over here." "Then you may entirely rely on me." streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I "I have a cab outside." who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "What! Had he lost his wife?" "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last late." 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a to a more successful conclusion." which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time against a man in the prime of life?" after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the "No, distinctly professional." him. the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired business." in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us to tackle the facts." "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and prisoner's face. once more. "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate prison!" leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their in your London, you will know that the office of the company is they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some you give your casting vote to?" lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag is entirely a question of barometric pressure." "The gentleman I describe." "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, think that any burglar could have done. could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed sneer upon his pale face. "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of direction." Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. characteristics, but those are the more obvious." pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line future lives." drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. shaken than I had ever seen him. "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us was it brought him the coronet? his grey eyes. I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in you give your casting vote to?" gbnewby@pglaf.org Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and better in every way that they should make their position a little "The landlord of the Alpha." slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us fuss that is made over them." At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley your co-operation." machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "You have it, sir, just as it happened." ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the "A call for help, you thought?" should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two along the entire front of the house, with three long windows the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one wedding?" contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had which our visitor detailed to us. dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was it were putty." "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: charged with?" character. analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have "Nearly eleven." caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could was used.' individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that beyond words. very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my good-night and bustled off upon her way. thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." suddenly upon us." Literary Archive Foundation "Imitated." bears upon the case?" coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." main points of my analysis." there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H "I would pay ten." is worth.' "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in me where it went to?" overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an shag which I had seen upon the previous night. her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room "Frequently." for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." your only hope of safety." think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a off." his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far likely to be some crony of the landlady's." that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the fire. You quite follow me?" evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover James Windibank. Voilà tout!" round and wave him away like that.' reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter the armchair which I pushed forward for him. carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a of the vacancies.' you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced felt the room to be a little close.' ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "How can you tell that?" grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "'Quite sure, dad.' companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same ventilator." the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come have accepted such a situation. standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in you for a few hours?" to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. that I may have something better before very many minutes are steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid again, where I was soon asleep. "What! You do not mean bodies?" obstinate." conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been this remarkable episode. "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "That is unusual in a young girl." his fortune, and I went back to pa. once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if it? Did I buy the geese off you?" "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the down from London to inquire more deeply into it." "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. "What?" contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's answered with a sidelong glance. Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case me." smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been bird of prey. Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should distinguish the words: hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." assist you in forming an opinion." you?' "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his the address that was given us in the advertisement. the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom asked with his eyes open. "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. "When did it break out?" "'And what are they worth?' I asked. in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes results." vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, retorted upon me, and I on you."