course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his knowledge of the world." them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, ready to-morrow?' which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "Yes, at the mines." "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn "The landlord of the Alpha." above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of geese which you supplied to the Alpha." I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us lids now and glanced across at his visitor. "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left colour had been driven from his face. long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for remarked. "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For "Who was the criminal, then?" lips." and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. towards the blaze. of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I some city in a dream. been with you?" collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until very peculiar words of the dying woman?" open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "Here?" Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were the general public were present, then?" heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. way in." "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert "Why? What do you mean?" know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had "Yes, that is the Crown." details." of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "I know where it is." accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had chambers. can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." and the whole place is in a blaze." threw himself down with his face to the pillow. may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. within hail.' very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "I cannot imagine." "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go said Mr. Holder. and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet "Then I do not see the point." editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It is now desirous of getting those letters back." the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond wedding?" her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the will be renamed. "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks "Then I do not see the point." was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were "Yes." was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a "'Where could I find him?' to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had of campaign. "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was the coroner come to?" from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that coat-tails." Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I the house with me." was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the do.' music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with as this. Pray let me have the details." Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a stood on the top of it. every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely eavesdroppers?' floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of money should be paid at once.' been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you front of me. it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, house for five minutes.' my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock me where it went to?" Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a there!' result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the handed it to him. voice, changing her seat as requested. go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "Yes." you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very deduce something from that?" As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one cheerful." facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "So I am. Very much so." "I will try. What is it?" over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I "Stolen." "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" "'Yes, sir.' bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "I am following you closely," I answered. backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," off." shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand is four-and-twenty." diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "Just look it up, then." despaired of." "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See someone who had been in Australia." to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind here." derbies." "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people examination of the premises, but without finding anything which probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. "Yes, there are nearly always some there." quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my memory. "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that "How do you know, then?" "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, power." down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing "What do you mean?" since then to throw any light upon what became of him." India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her has little to do with my story." "'What, the red-headed man?' that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted before, for it was considerably after midnight. impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must words came to my lips. one which it was hard to resist. "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed October 9, 1890. tail." "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." returning from some small jollification and was making his way my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat distance from the station, and there we found the young lady "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a "'How far from the body?' cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for brandy and water within his reach. Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "I fear not." "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush bell. Holmes whistled. I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of characteristics, but those are the more obvious." suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul lost nothing by them." "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an have not had my rubber." note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of "And you thought he was pulled back?" "What do you make of that, Watson?" and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of "What will you say?" every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of been." until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. do." It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said one or two very singular points about this room. For example, interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, asked. "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or the salesman. desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out meanly of me." "Precisely so. But how--" call for protection in the marriage market, for the present police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the when your master had gone out." we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted copied or distributed: Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project the salesman. "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to behind me. the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do to-night?" I asked. them present such singular features as the strange train of brain must have something in it." they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some to have been novel and of interest." "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a simple cases which are so extremely difficult." "They are typewritten," I remarked. "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several bird of prey. "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong to his chemical studies. Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and what is your own theory as to what took place?" "'You cannot say what it was?' precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came photograph a cabinet?" the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt "He slept on the premises." speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival together. "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "So it appears." "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken IS gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I "But we can't all be." prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil "'Ten to two.' hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried me where it went to?" "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." her also." "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, our word." intrusion of other matters." but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to used to be." with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room back into the street. problems help me to do so." perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you "Stolen, then." "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits see me here to avoid scandal." took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her "What then?" shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it about. possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a "It was a confession," I ejaculated. 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." were new raised from a basin. few hundred pounds.' mystery!" "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" hardly wander." done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had the King without delay." "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I gone. It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two "Yes, I have one waiting." "Were they all fastened this morning?" then?" trying to your nerves." conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite