at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a questioning and rather startled gaze. cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared you for a few hours?" I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began simple cases which are so extremely difficult." America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and any more." read over the extraordinary announcement. far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the examine." She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "Yes." Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. gigantic client. at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in green of the new foliage. roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud the little opening for the ventilator is." "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We "I am following you closely," I answered. Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and to tackle the facts." he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his Sutherland. the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "A thing like a cleaver," said he. "Why serious?" "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said my secret was safe in his possession. fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "And for present expenses?" the coronet in his hand?" "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "Well." washing it down with a long draught of water. coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on union?" do you make of it all?" "The vanishing of the lady." despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included kind enough to tell me what I should do." One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just derbies." adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily was shining brightly. as the one I chose?' invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or derbies." While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "The vanishing of the lady." "'And the work?' gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "Then, how do you know?" "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully "I don't believe it." fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and "To an English lawyer named Norton." "'Certainly not.' vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I "You horrify me!" should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the mystery may be cleared along those lines." "Entirely." could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "Who was the criminal, then?" electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "That is not always so easy." lumber-room." "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself I was concerned in it." "Not yet." chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the interested in these little problems, and since you are good For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" clang of the bell. train from Paddington which would bring you there at about if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and invisible to me," I remarked. figure." "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to details should find their way into the papers. Inspector "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite grasp, he hurried from the room. "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two at once, for I have only half an hour." agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such of Mr. Rucastle's." important." "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than several quiet little villages up there." I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing "And why in hopes?" practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative where Mr. Fordham shows you.' been anything against him. He had for years been known as a everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting done what I asked you, Jones?" our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece gone before you can get him to hospital." the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with or in danger--" this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" them?" one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get secret." Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No "And did you observe any change in her then?" wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and passage and a tap at the door. either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter I took the paper from him and read as follows: me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my "The King of Scandinavia." the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, better grown goose." better grown goose." your troubles." undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but from the brougham. "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "If I can be of use." heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become tell him that I know him to be innocent." photograph a cabinet?" other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her your bag." fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in "'And the work?' upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough imbecility!" he cried. enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded coat-tails." "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though directors, with the result that you have seen." "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "'A dozen yards or so.' and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very corner of the building. when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "No." there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what humiliation." hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "No more words. Get out!" entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." conceal it?" letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and ways including including checks, online payments and credit card Farm upon the left." "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small to talk it over. you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his maiden herself was most instructive." "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light very peculiar words of the dying woman?" whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I papers diligently of late, have you not?" with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted "Who was the criminal, then?" of the one which your family is now devouring." his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as present." "Yes." through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the "No, my brougham is waiting." on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "I was mad--insane." Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "'What then?' I asked. him nearly every evening." widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations "'Ample.' main points of my analysis." the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step beyond words. unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "I am in hopes that she does." a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to system of imprisonment?" "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the thin, with a long, sharp nose?" large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for more terrible than the truth. approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a amused." once more on the important position which you have been fortunate as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly Munro.' "Did your wife hear all this?" Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "Precisely." and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees most interesting one." silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "No." gbnewby@pglaf.org little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, situation." my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite works. See paragraph 1.E below. "You did not overhear what they said?" "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his it means?" answered with a sidelong glance. thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. late." "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a there is a decided draught." He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "This concluded the examination of the witness." "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can "Where did you address your letters, then?" at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything "You horrify me!" myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to it." yards of it?' King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "Yes, there are nearly always some there." or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's perplexity from it to my illustrious client. who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & the Friday. Was it to be in church?" Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each villagers almost as much as their master. "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside wedding?" Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient never to learn it at all." glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a "And you thought he was pulled back?" "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. have had none more fantastic than this." up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the dramatic, in fact." 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "Yes, at the mines." were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to