it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but lamp in his hand. considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the call the police, let the police find what they can.' whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of pierced for earrings?" Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "I will get her to show me." having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, "And leave your case unfinished?" naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is enter into my head. with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on "Just look it up, then." results." them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted DAMAGE. back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" "What shall I do?" "But what is it you wish?" companion. disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the "You were travelling in the States?" from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is any more." who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "'About the same.' Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. be sorry for having acted so harshly." at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "I cannot say that I have." and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. "And I." the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party minor matters until to-morrow." defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he "'Certainly not. But why?' the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just late!' of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, the coronet in his hands?" corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now despair." children over to America with him, so that I found myself without some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "I was sure that I might rely on you." upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I upon the sideboard." bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, happened." the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. heavy and sharp instrument." "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, "Won't it ring?" great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with but preventing her from injuring another. "An enemy?" We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; him to be an active member of the medical profession." dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the "But we can't all be." "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in narrative." address. "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to Countess of Morcar's?" there were one or two details which were new to me. But the of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security papers on the sundial.'" "And how did you find out?" room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a companion imperturbably. "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving things are very often connected not with the larger but with the would apply.' "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "'I am sure if I had known--' silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from kind enough to tell me what I should do." "Never to return." ill-usage at the hands of fortune. bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I through." there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady "Did your wife hear all this?" freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he to his chemical studies. that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess silent! Oh, he will be silent!' time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies place of silver." "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out your bag." who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and Foundation a little more before I quite committed myself. "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of "Certainly." man. I know him from the photograph." "But the mystery?" "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you events than those which have happened in my own family." he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "No bad?" for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "'Quite sure, dad.' the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of papers on the sundial.'" which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior a room. freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "Bought." from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a conclusions. "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty lumber-room." company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he if she died from some sudden fright." felt the room to be a little close.' confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. "Did your wife hear all this?" say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father "It may not come to that," said Holmes. only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his opened a pocket-book and took out a note. had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite "Oh, the cause is excellent!" the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away "Pray do so." detective. "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered wanted for ourselves." his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and what do you think they found in the pockets?" to arrive at through this?" going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he and the colonel ushered me in. remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but to tell." "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "You have compromised yourself seriously." Sholtos." "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I congratulate you again." public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid chance." Holmes' thin, eager face. say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your call it cruel." elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was me what he had done with the three missing stones. breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault approach us with offers to donate. copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week problems help me to do so." murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and chance." by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police prove to be little relation between the different incidents of "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting discontent upon his features. itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, other means.' in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "Then you may entirely rely on me." exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal me." be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons allusion to a rat. King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "'Tell me all about it,' said I. "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from following enigmatical notices: test if we have an answer to our advertisement." handed it to him. some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at have an American origin." begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to "But I have heard all that you have heard." sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy James Windibank. Voilà tout!" "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced behind me. "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is "I shall be delighted." "Yes, from Horsham." "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible the station." "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my standing smiling on the door-step. "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door silent! Oh, he will be silent!' upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an particular state visit http://pglaf.org framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar here." address. down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and "Yes." "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, "Did you observe the colour?" that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "And from a noble client?" me have 200 pounds?' of receipt of the work. "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. laugh and put his lips to my ear. without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "She told me to ask you." it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought which I could not give. He asked for Alice. envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend take the flies, but not before." few hundred pounds.' copied or distributed: THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me "None." fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical tapping his fingers upon the table. front of me. should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their detective. Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "None." the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to when your master had gone out." unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey there!' shaken than I had ever seen him. knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "Yes, it was twisted." cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of opportunities to fix the problem. from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to "Then you may be so with me." his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever "There are none." receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord have not had my rubber." six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. that I may have something better before very many minutes are "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One and capable of preserving a secret.' little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." "But his left-handedness." dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that footfalls from the street. "You are all wrong." but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to chemical work which was so dear to him. separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give the inquest, and which are worth considering." pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single McCarthy." "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "Why, it's a dummy," said he. woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout fuss that is made over them." "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we even so self-evident a thing as that." pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "Then I do not see the point." the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its "No, finished." "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "Precisely." at a side door. note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "'About the same.' "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then newspaper selections." "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to bled considerably." a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' suddenly upon us." steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which