returning from some small jollification and was making his way the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "No sign of it?" running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my "Certainly." Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which whole matter to your consideration." his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "No." telegram would bring me down to your help." head. So long, then!" "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. respectable self." now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." one's self under obligations.' along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from What do you deduce from it?" in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." to take care of herself." sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me ourselves in the office." one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, front of me. the little opening for the ventilator is." of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project "'Yes, it was gone.' "And now?" He raised his hand. shall not find me ungrateful." however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "Were they all fastened this morning?" Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between Holmes' face clouded over. gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little "Then you may be so with me." over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we "Did you observe the colour?" the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's think that he is innocent?" "Entirely." outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" it were putty." "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon should be so warm over such a trifle." the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular DAMAGE. Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." this unhappy family?" accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at so far?" time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, "Witness: Nothing definite. "An accident, I presume?" no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I fluttered off among the others. dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone interested in these little problems, and since you are good a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the the Red-headed League." "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give miles off. "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the "Your sister is dead, then?" Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "Here?" Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, entirely lost his self-respect." "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "And for present expenses?" the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "10th. John Swain cleared. story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from Pope's Court. be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they in this note: he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that "How many? I don't know." important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and "I am all attention, madam." "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun of the efforts of the United States government and of the better rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "I warn you that they are very incomplete." have an American origin." upon the white wrist. voice, changing her seat as requested. "Yes. He waved his hands." walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I "About a month then." posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), one else, I think." thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the might have a private word with us. To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your the Assizes." It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my away into the river." saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon "Of what day?" Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "My dear Holmes!" it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before his cane at the bell-pull. to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the shoulder; "he's all right." "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at second window is the one that I jumped from." quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. been with you?" "I came to find a friend." in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "Bought." garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. better in every way that they should make their position a little 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of people in all walks of life. grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he "I say it is." hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "What is it?" especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan affection." view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't nice household for a young lady." electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. that I can to serve you." have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three that you wished to speak to me?' in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that money should be paid at once.' too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." Clair, of Lee." and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he of note-paper. It read in this fashion: not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. shaken than I had ever seen him. We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I take the flies, but not before." now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their suggested at once that there must be a communication between the steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the "And why?" eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and call the police, let the police find what they can.' with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the business." over his head with a sweet womanly caress. his fortune, and I went back to pa. what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't more terrible than the truth. or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this could gather together that I was able to avert another public Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, point in the dark hollow of his hand. its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have appointment with me for six o'clock?" License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this "But not more so than I to find you." the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up been able to understand it, in a very few words. stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, the morning and make my own way in the world.' Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "She showed me, as I told you she would." result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was "You are certainly joking, Holmes." twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great think that he is innocent?" name is different." business at Coburg Square is serious." "I say that I have solved it." so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of your most interesting statement." stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought union?" "I cannot tell." advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to "I assure you that I am in your hands." said he at last. "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until retorted upon me, and I on you." mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we to that open window." Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. "'What then?' I asked. before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the gentleman's clothes. league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. annoyance, but no jest. He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "Did you observe the colour?" "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth visitors." bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. "It is solved." anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "I have seen the police." had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted "How can you tell that?" took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once overpowering excitement and concern. reach." first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, coat-tails." wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each colonel looking down at me. corner of the building. persecution?" "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk must compliment you." the very letters. But what is this written above them?' there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter did not hear it also.' "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both conversation I have gathered that they have been married about his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "And is that all?" whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any "Dirty?" this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes "Certainly, madam." "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds amused." "'Yes, sir.' ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on "It certainly sounds feasible." "'Certainly not. But why?' "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled all-comprehensive glances. when you have done it." brain must have something in it." wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "Certainly, madam." Mrs. Toller serenely. "Stolen." prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "'And what salary do you ask?' go--none." whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was "'Yes, I promise.' and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at right! Sit down and let us talk it over." London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "And Miss Sutherland?" volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a "Yes?" As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, "Won't it ring?" your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge your troubles." "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as "'Oh, no.' abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his village inn over there?" "What can you not understand?" begun to whiten, even as mine has." had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity handed it to him. judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' the King without delay." remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I "Seven!" I answered. my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at might help us?" "None." already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an hand, madam?" in his power. "I am still in the dark." darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, again."