fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to "Where did you address your letters, then?" door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could down in his armchair and closing his eyes. Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. of fine shops and stately business premises that they really extraordinary contortions. "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. You can understand that this register and diary may implicate Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his "No." remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire colour had been driven from his face. then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in "Dr. Becher's." "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something "And that is--" was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a bed dies. Does not that strike you?" I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches again on its way. slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "I am to be neutral?" "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. case-book, which he consulted. that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace "No?" fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. crime. "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to guilty one." "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, as the one I chose?' "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling the bottom.' stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at and laid it on the table. "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper next day. answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a "'Yes, sir.' ready to-morrow?' but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over "Yes, I have one waiting." "When did she vanish, then?" were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "Won't it ring?" unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "It must be recovered." during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial then?" and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or photograph a cabinet?" people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. it." handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even *** START: FULL LICENSE *** "I know where it is." and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "Murdered?" Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the "Did you become engaged then?" "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we mysterious end." hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such kindly on the shoulder. aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his maiden herself was most instructive." something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "Yes, at the mines." conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it I am not easy in my mind about them." that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." easy-going way." had picked up in the wood. occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "Absolutely?" what I may call a really hard day's work." "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had "'About the same.' "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is floor. was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a passage and a tap at the door. the roots. "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my that he has suffered." "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "On your arm?" marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" unprofitable." "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special "The rest you will leave in our hands." "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, within hail.' shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of "I have my revolver," said I. "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the "'I have already given you my word.' happened." "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining was it brought him the coronet? "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered charge against him will break down." The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty "I am in hopes that she does." "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her begun to whiten, even as mine has." "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "Then I do not see the point." being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply Street. Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying "Well?" "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to "Imitated." drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was "How do you know, then?" cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress the stable lane now." "How many? I don't know." object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no "It is solved." child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "'Then let me do so?' "What then?" between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me "No more words. Get out!" "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, breakfast." anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted photograph?" permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and the one as in the other." Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am clang of the bell. "Why, it's a dummy," said he. calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his morning." the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "Yes." "Ample." it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must prove to be little relation between the different incidents of that I am arrested." ran thus: Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She might help us?" "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out which I could not give. He asked for Alice. avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how "In the cells." he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended "Did you observe the colour?" fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the new duties?' my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps once more for Briony Lodge. question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "In San Francisco, a year ago." own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down "You are hungry," I remarked. brain must have something in it." "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been "Quite so." cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my this Miss Turner." "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, annoyance, but no jest. Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "'Ample.' the running down." the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it weighed down with some great anxiety. drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, the coronet in his hands?" was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It you." The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. "My stepfather's business papers." "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes "Quite so." instincts rose up against that laugh. the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it your Highness to the police-station?" have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You questioning and rather startled gaze. License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in troubles have been weighing upon his mind. there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over "To the police?" have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth just called myself is not exactly my own." seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, read over the extraordinary announcement. "But not more so than I to find you." number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the attention." the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he "'Is 4 pounds a week.' her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small business." sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I orange pips. pound a week." while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." think that he is innocent?" "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, "But what is it you wish?" "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my do.' "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated you found me to-night--and running through the front room she "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had "I was certainly surprised to find you there." right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I I was concerned in it." married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated time." "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every said he, "my real name is James Ryder." rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural where she found matters as described by the last witness. uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, Pope's Court. and inquire as to the address." subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town "I promise," said Holmes. 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person window when the police appeared." himself to hunt down. do.' Munro.' "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the "And Irene Adler?" and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for in this way: simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to down. "In heaven's name, what for?" in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and wife's character?" and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two "On Monday." on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "Yes?" I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he "It must be recovered." will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California me. conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly "I am still in the dark." apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the "'Ample.' the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either "It was an hour's good drive." facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom,