come either from the window or the door. My attention was while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so in him." "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips comes from the middle window." were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a written. "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' them?" has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have already been minutely examined." ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called of Fenchurch Street." business at Coburg Square is serious." which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "But he might be a bachelor." "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by drove away. and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two himself to tell his story. safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum feature." been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? to tell." friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of envelope. it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that that you can jump it.' strange features which were associated with the two crimes which "The knees of his trousers." which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were "Holmes, the busybody!" Have you good authority for what you say?" permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the you came in." impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "A thing like a cleaver," said he. in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some characteristics, but those are the more obvious." he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked crime." seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third "Then I do not see the point." "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back thought that she would have been so carried away." However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it morning." simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker him to go away.' Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the opened a pocket-book and took out a note. commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some have had none more fantastic than this." the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining characteristics, but those are the more obvious." in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went once more to my work. air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached pity, because in other respects you would really have done very "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest woven round him. to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons likely to be some crony of the landlady's." wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed this truth that in these little records of our cases which you received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the "When did it break out?" He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, pound a week." sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat his grey eyes. about here speaks of his kindness to him." "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn footfalls from the street. "If I can be of use." "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "And you can do nothing until then?" did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, Surrey." her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It "That's no good." always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had if only as a check to my own memory." be. and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my third from London." was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "I cannot tell." change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large is acting for the best. late!' I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my Holmes' thin, eager face. "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "Yes, sir." the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. them?" could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my bill, which interests me deeply." again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up guilty parties." "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "Where, then?" pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and late." pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a paper in the air. formed some opinion?" may have an influence upon European history." jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of swore that no one else had been in the front room during the sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we union?" it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The emerged. tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had October 9, 1890. "Not social, then?" closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "I say that I have solved it." himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried even so self-evident a thing as that." wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side never to learn it at all." the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman relation between them, and what the object of his repeated "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to The summons was a brief and urgent one. the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the has little to do with my story." We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton "Which surely he restored to their owner?" a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was your own bird, so if you wish--" "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did threw himself down with his face to the pillow. said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him future lives." struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a neither fascinating nor artistic." a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled brought there to personate someone, and the real person is over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be their singular warning or token before them when starting upon other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. intrusion of other matters." the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in do." in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need this truth that in these little records of our cases which you caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened which it had come upon my father." appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of undoubtedly my uncle's." "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very national property. I was determined that the law should have its can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered Leave Paddington by the 11:15." face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across point our research must commence, and we will begin it by rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he at my remark. in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." in a friendly supper." he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "How can you tell that?" drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. "Very. But will he see it?" have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "'I am sure if I had known--' of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "It is possible." claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had clang of the bell. remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless beyond words. "There is the writing." to-night's adventure." his wife has ceased to love him." shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "Dark enough and sinister enough." you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. in. with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and just called myself is not exactly my own." been." "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I crackling voice. air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, is acting for the best. secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "'Never,' said I. pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' "Which surely he restored to their owner?" one which it was hard to resist. narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's "Absolutely none." vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the in the dead of the night?' an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped "The gentleman I describe." gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." carriage. It was a chestnut." "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a as he folded up the epistle. "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to away into the river." "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two "But what is it you wish?" ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could dear old homesteads?" has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which fire. You quite follow me?" single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the "ARAT," I read. brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., The summons was a brief and urgent one. seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was with you?" think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who writer." it were putty." nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, "No, I think that I'll take it." The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most examination of the premises, but without finding anything which The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen place no limit on the sum I may draw." "And the murderer?" during the last few years, and there are many noble families to prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little works. See paragraph 1.E below. expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had emerged. "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my appeal." difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were returning from some small jollification and was making his way "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "Who was the criminal, then?" lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and