The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle (love letters to the dead .txt) ๐
Description
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes was the first collection of Sherlock Holmes short stories Conan Doyle published in book form, following the popular success of the novels A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of the Four, which introduced the characters of Dr. John Watson and the austere analytical detective Sherlock Holmes.
The collection contains twelve stories, all originally published in The Strand Magazine between July 1891 and June 1892. Narrated by the first-person voice of Dr. Watson, they involve him and Holmes solving a series of mysterious cases.
Some of the more well-known stories in this collection are โA Scandal in Bohemia,โ in which Holmes comes up against a worthy opponent in the form of Irene Adler, whom Holmes forever after admiringly refers to as the woman; โThe Redheaded League,โ involving a bizarre scheme offering a well-paid sinecure to redheaded men; and โThe Speckled Band,โ in which Holmes and Watson save a young woman from a terrible death.
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- Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
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โI was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the rosebushes.
โHow long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the particulars of my nightโs adventure, and I sprang to my feet with the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream.
โHalf dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three miles off.
โIt was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do exactly what you advise.โ
We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he placed his cuttings.
โHere is an advertisement which will interest you,โ said he. โIt appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: โLost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten oโclock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was dressed in,โ etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy.โ
โGood heavens!โ cried my patient. โThen that explains what the girl said.โ
โUndoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for Eyford.โ
Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford for its centre.
โThere you are,โ said he. โThat circle is drawn at a radius of ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir.โ
โIt was an hourโs good drive.โ
โAnd you think that they brought you back all that way when you were unconscious?โ
โThey must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having been lifted and conveyed somewhere.โ
โWhat I cannot understand,โ said I, โis why they should have spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. Perhaps the villain was softened by the womanโs entreaties.โ
โI hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face in my life.โ
โOh, we shall soon clear up all that,โ said Bradstreet. โWell, I have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon it the folk that we are in search of are to be found.โ
โI think I could lay my finger on it,โ said Holmes quietly.
โReally, now!โ cried the inspector, โyou have formed your opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is south, for the country is more deserted there.โ
โAnd I say east,โ said my patient.
โI am for west,โ remarked the plain-clothes man. โThere are several quiet little villages up there.โ
โAnd I am for north,โ said I, โbecause there are no hills there, and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up any.โ
โCome,โ cried the inspector, laughing; โitโs a very pretty diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do you give your casting vote to?โ
โYou are all wrong.โ
โBut we canโt all be.โ
โOh, yes, you
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