surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to at home. heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural of it with the greatest attention. "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine eavesdroppers?' prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. not, dad?" she asked. who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in locked. "Do you know him?" "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same "By no means." little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in the matter." conversation I have gathered that they have been married about leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be system of imprisonment?" "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made it." 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector "On Monday." "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my "'How far from the body?' fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. placed his cuttings. object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend have an American origin." "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and "What office?" were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" do.' pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came more terrible than the truth. also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black the inner apartment." she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the "To ruin me." unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the characteristics, but those are the more obvious." dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the emerged. in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a had formerly been in part my own. "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "'What are you doing there?' he asked. "Will you go?" which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he me where it went to?" before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, roused himself from his reverie. Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to of his shoulders. know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in meanly of me." other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is Street. As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. companion quietly. fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of "You will not go there first?" I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account not come at once?" "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have call it cruel." acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with particular state visit http://pglaf.org "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter "'It is locked up,' I answered. "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her not, dad?" she asked. "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as confronted him. were new raised from a basin. sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been "You heard nothing yourself last night?" "That is easily got." "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look "'Yes, sir.' I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay the salesman. severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "Pray do so." "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I think that any burglar could have done. him to be an active member of the medical profession." was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which Holmes' face clouded over. metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit page at http://pglaf.org "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord "No, I am descending." "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, to tackle the facts." Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I status with the IRS. photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle business came to an end." Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "The rest you will leave in our hands." an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this "But what will you do?" "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "The doctor?" have not had my rubber." of his shoulders. I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep during that time.' have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "On your arm?" soul! here is her carriage at the door." the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked But Holmes shook his head gravely. doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my opened a pocket-book and took out a note. common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But 'please.'" something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet not use it unless it is absolutely needed." given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "I have my revolver," said I. death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even beyond words. what is your own theory as to what took place?" was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence not come at once?" the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "Frequently." "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may Holmes." "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "By no means." suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right strength in the others." dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and "'Never,' said I. "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, grasp, he hurried from the room. it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very "A greater distance to travel." of this gang." down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the quite distinctive." could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four "My Mary? Impossible!" "Was there a secret marriage?" sofa. This way, please!" and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours outsides of the windows. with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he Does that suggest anything?" human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." said I. upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "The Coroner: What do you mean? wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the habit of advancing money.' against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do that there was nothing in it, after all." police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which introspective fashion. volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and shag which I had seen upon the previous night. In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to formed some opinion?" sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are woman." mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." "But she will refuse." the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." more solid." week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to carried out of court." see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to delighted to hear it," he said. beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had go from here to the Strand." "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I window when the police appeared." business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. better grown goose." showing my impatience. distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house your troubles." roused himself from his reverie. may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal of campaign. dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy child?' that I can to serve you." carriage. It was a chestnut." the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." ashen face. habit of advancing money.' Munro.' five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at kindly on the shoulder. and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of thirty. yourselves in at night?" did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his "'In my own bureau.' the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. Cross for the Continent." rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She was a lad." have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." where she found matters as described by the last witness. and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with "Was she in good spirits?" towards the blaze. "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project late!' bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "Well?" "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending "And your mother is alive?" "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I your only hope of safety." returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, "'There is a drive, then?' have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my I leave." her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my What do you deduce from it?" not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps new duties?' "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too than was visible to me." "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of "I answered that I had not. blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their waste of energy." beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy "Stolen, then." relation between them, and what the object of his repeated very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when very peculiar words of the dying woman?" Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot I shall continue with my miserable story. "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your "And you don't know his address?" passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "But she will refuse." Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the "I will try. What is it?" might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "Upon what point?" all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those detective. photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of to have been novel and of interest." "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without her also." was feeling which was the fattest.' "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise relief.