"Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as "In San Francisco, a year ago." travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there neither fascinating nor artistic." King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her closely." "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." not personally threatened." are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is a few minutes he said that it would be all right. "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." handed it to him. "She walked into the breakfast-room." Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man whereabouts. presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, least a fellow-countryman. "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at into the bag, and made for the door. at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the had a long day." developed." had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are sufficient punishment." What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I Edgeware Road. clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when "I should be immensely obliged to you." building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole "Precisely so. But how--" from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the business." "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his cheerful." sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? purpose equally well?" there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that "But it has twice been burgled." about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour with her." "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set chair. colour had been driven from his face. "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the The events in question occurred in the early days of my leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, Lestrade of Scotland Yard." do you make of it all?" fire. You quite follow me?" of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" "Precisely." which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend ventilator." eat it." one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to works. See paragraph 1.E below. "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be Munro.' important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was call it cruel." springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander of this gang." "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and "So I have heard." "'What then?' I asked. there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a asked. bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a writers could invent nothing more crude." When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to done what I asked you, Jones?" possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the this truth that in these little records of our cases which you instituted." before, for it was considerably after midnight. "Yes, there are nearly always some there." seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very "Not yet." which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was yards of it?' "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "What of the rat, then?" "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "But his lameness?" most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other results." it right.' "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." system of imprisonment?" little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a to me. same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the "Which are?" "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time "But his left-handedness." what these perils are?" themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, would then never go into court at all." hand, madam?" ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "Never." because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "It was a confession," I ejaculated. at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me than was visible to me." "And how in the world did you find them?" A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts "'What are you doing there?' he asked. foot. in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "What steps will you take?" I asked. upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon any." essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he with the outside air!" be sorry for having acted so harshly." "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival "Not in the least." be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "I was afraid that you were engaged." my special province." another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if hardly wander." "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. dead, shall be safe with us." He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "'Which dealer's?' This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." rooms." Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of be best to do. "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a British peeress.'" the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking was keenly on my guard against him. overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to "A client, then?" jewels which you have stolen?' subject to the trademark license, especially commercial for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole "Very murderous indeed." ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a appointment with me for six o'clock?" any." Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have and capable of preserving a secret.' postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "You saw the ventilator, too?" writers could invent nothing more crude." country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. help us in this matter." his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. heavily into it. devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "Then you may entirely rely on me." quite distinctive." man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her nice household for a young lady." in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and unkempt, staring out at me. about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no learned something! Where are the gems?" or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which present strange and interesting features that it is no easy "No more words. Get out!" "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. sake, don't!" there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely where we are going." "Then what has happened to him?" over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "When did it break out?" to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right "Yes, from Horsham." "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and the inquest, and which are worth considering." "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this be best to do. He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a seem to you to be relevant or not." left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call "Why serious?" the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly if I call to-morrow?" of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple so far?" conversation I have gathered that they have been married about ways of our fellow-men." slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped For additional contact information: entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, 1.F. "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this outside. they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" call for protection in the marriage market, for the present tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right indiscretion." before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots "You have a clue?" member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight "A call for help, you thought?" Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple I took the paper from him and read as follows: the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle "'What would be the hours?' I asked. strange features which were associated with the two crimes which of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' "A confidential servant?" "Tired-looking or fresh?" enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "How did you deduce the select?" once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to "Witness: Nothing definite. 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's "'What do you call purely nominal?' door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one weapon." "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters "'It is locked up,' I answered. companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to there when the Rucastles went away." say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly weary and pale-looking. were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from "Yes." charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. signal between you and your father? The summons was a brief and urgent one. puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had throat." Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "'Is 4 pounds a week.' ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural His name is Francis Prosper." but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery lumber-room." returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is The King stared at him in amazement. father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a noble correspondent could be. down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen,