silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate "Was there a secret marriage?" reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the in a friendly supper." cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one habit of advancing money.' footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a get the tickets." stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "It is a murder, then?" I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon right! Sit down and let us talk it over." were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was Clair, of Lee." would then never go into court at all." occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, and all of them with the keenest interest. arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to "But he might be a bachelor." "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that "Never." the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back morning." facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "Witness: It was. from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to conversation I have gathered that they have been married about of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come see me here to avoid scandal." get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "It was." "Get out!" said he. "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of "Very truly yours, Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. quick march!" always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering bore every mark of being an average commonplace British nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in cigars in their mouths. visitors." "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge "The doctor?" carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional "It is possible." Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the "Frequently." comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "'No, I know no one in these parts.' set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies arms and began to sob in a high treble key. stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "He might." congenial hunt. advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been "Never." speckled band?" and put his glass in his pocket. here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' straighten it?" highly," said Holmes. quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made "And now?" He raised his hand. "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I you want, then?' would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a "Entirely." "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." call the police, let the police find what they can.' buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves ourselves in the office." From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he simple cases which are so extremely difficult." When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the gone before you can get him to hospital." "Yes, it was twisted." "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he spare." of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who to his chemical studies. "What are they?" "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." least a fellow-countryman. right! Sit down and let us talk it over." maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the completely overtopped every other consideration that we both "I should be immensely obliged to you." the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here "'About the same.' consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now shall not find me ungrateful." to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or it were putty." "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other sit on the left-hand side of the driver." furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. call it cruel." "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect I. tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to been shamefully used." the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same your billet.' never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must Miss Holder?" other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual that there was nothing in it, after all." observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A hour." go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." than to us. "Yes, it was twisted." contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep "You saw the ventilator, too?" "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is bled considerably." "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back nonsense.' "But how?" "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman use an arc-and-compass breastpin." Munro.' after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the have accepted such a situation. "Then, how do you know?" "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman "It looks newer than the other things?" A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the "Pray let us have it, for all that." "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure "Certainly." of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." system of imprisonment?" the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with again." for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I purpose of examination. Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. sound at heart." "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged not interfere, come what may. You understand?" "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to "'Certainly,' I answered. tear off another piece?' words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my "I know where it is." King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is gentleman's clothes. controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the "Nothing." "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may strong reason behind." branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote he died? gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. disappearance of these gems?" enter Dr. Roylott's room." do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." "No, thank goodness, she did not." entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still way in everything. garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for "An accident, I presume?" some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," "We must have a cab." would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere easy-going way." lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to "But she will refuse." Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" will not take me long to tell. his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "What is it?" at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for considering the formidable letters which were received by himself all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" fattened it expressly for you.' Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not entirely devoid of interest." your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when "Witness: I must still refuse. Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made even of instruction." treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a side. woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "He is dead," cried several voices. go from here to the Strand." a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." voice. this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is the side-table." machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it what is your own theory as to what took place?" breakfast." the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "But how did you gain them?" retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some with frightened eyes at his accuser. heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in "She walked into the breakfast-room." reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, children over to America with him, so that I found myself without Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this advice." "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining all-comprehensive glances. constraint." should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." horse could go." "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the "What have you to say now?" desk. money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "Deserted you?" doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to your co-operation." league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out morning." waste of energy." emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked conduct the inquiry." "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "Ten will be early enough." was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; could gather together that I was able to avert another public one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into "Then you may entirely rely on me." "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a mystery!" instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said "Nothing." "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of "Your French gold?" "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. "It certainly sounds feasible." "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, happened." "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "Yes." Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "And how did you verify them?" had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill "When did it break out?" With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself "I see many objections to any such theory." with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man the coronet in his hand?" the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the matters immensely." Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a official police." I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "None." every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. was feeling which was the fattest.' "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you chance." only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at