down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, gives a meaning to it." The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that generous with you in money matters.' said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This "But his lameness?" nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire kindly on the shoulder. tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me "And the murderer?" "Perfectly so." "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had fear." protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "But how?" heavy and sharp instrument." In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "Now, then, what's the last entry?" "Yes, that is the Crown." rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me The events in question occurred in the early days of my in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across "I beg pardon." must compliment you." character. "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes happened." and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but "I am still in the dark." "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to John Swain, of St. Augustine. "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question future lives." voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my in one or two places in England?' corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about "What then?" while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. "Dr. Becher's." dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "I am armed." sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what excitement. he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine could not account in any way for the presence of the missing Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows problems help me to do so." with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. "Certainly." There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before character. "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to unkempt, staring out at me. window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the "Nothing?" myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly the bottom.' agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham letters?" "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." "'Quite sure, dad.' immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, Henry Baker is a member." stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and "It is half-past ten now." "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "Thank you. And your address?" were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that was lame." arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' wedding?" "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, happened." friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the as he folded up the epistle. have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. "I was sure that I might rely on you." slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked fatally injured? heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. guilty parties." The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and to-night." nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." and the whole place is in a blaze." running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some there was no need for father to know." be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise works. See paragraph 1.E below. "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." through." continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "Witness: Nothing definite. During two years I have had three consultations and one small "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get "'How far from the body?' may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing the driver. the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can your billet.' by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might one or two very singular points about this room. For example, "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' jewels which you have stolen?' evidence," I remarked. the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as But Holmes shook his head gravely. his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. himself in a perplexing position. "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There yourselves in at night?" photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, disappearance of the bride.'" address. "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it flock.' hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. Count Von Kramm." narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an laugh and put his lips to my ear. introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" tear off another piece?' because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was to-night?" I asked. Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at Heh?' my room." of the way of danger. hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. the station." But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at relation between them, and what the object of his repeated to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely towards the blaze. carried out of court." happened." a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my be.' the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who "Frequently." heavy and sharp instrument." my little problems." sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The quick march!" contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "I will not look." to talk it over. "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." "'Entirely.' We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to from the brougham. music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that John Swain, of St. Augustine. I have it here in my museum." the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my outsides of the windows. constraint." through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of even of instruction." lips." left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The have had none more fantastic than this." police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did people in all walks of life. butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. Leadenhall Street--and--" Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my third from London." set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very "Nor running a chance of arrest?" vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." have an American origin." "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the mystery may be cleared along those lines." ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, charge against him will break down." the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick "Stolen, then." "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "How did that help you?" business." ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "Yes." quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" signal between you and your father? "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." instincts rose up against that laugh. varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I "Two days later this same performance was gone through under McCarthy." arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with should be taken.' "'I am sure that I do not know.' rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "I was mad--insane." There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet little adventures." "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came "At what time?" statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded for its centre. "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I this poor creature." determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a "She told me to ask you." "And what then?" "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "But his left-handedness." to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and business in the City. She little knew what. her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold bonnet, and went out." I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' locked. "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "I promise," said Holmes. from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had October 9, 1890. said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was The note was undated, and without either signature or address. essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards papers." "He might." himself to tell his story. an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to outsides of the windows. his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for "Yes, sir." landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "But not more so than I to find you." know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had was a loud and authoritative tap. "What I expected to see." contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two there were one or two details which were new to me. But the interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace drawing your inferences." has little to do with my story." "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to fat-encircled eyes. standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "The knees of his trousers." "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was page at http://pglaf.org "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to nice household for a young lady." seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here will he say when he returns?" "I don't believe it." transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell we went to search for him, face downward in a little in him." suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, because she had spent so short a time in this country that she in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. annoyance, but no jest. "I have my revolver," said I. "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." golden eyeglasses. "What have you to say now?" bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." "You have but to name it." let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the directly by questioning you." Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was appeared upon the scene." hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we "None." certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. directly by questioning you." all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, there was no need for father to know." "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is