right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well here and I will read it to you: Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew "But it has twice been burgled." must compliment you." my special province." paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a hard-headed British jury." sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was the armchair which I pushed forward for him. with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you weary and pale-looking. salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he allusion to a rat. results." shoulder; "he's all right." swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which thought that she would have been so carried away." of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose any." "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. the bottom.' hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it occurred." made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love strong reason behind." "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at fish-monger and a tide-waiter." some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save to a more successful conclusion." investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to "Just look it up, then." galvanised. recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, John Swain, of St. Augustine. merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did him to be an active member of the medical profession." an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the locked." matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' Have you good authority for what you say?" "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "'What then?' I asked. "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's "No." themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two "Yes." Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "'There is a drive, then?' which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were did not hear it also.' you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "So it appears." and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was "Nothing." served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not sentimental considerations in the background which would induce "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that you?' known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and not use it unless it is absolutely needed." gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the "He disappeared so suddenly." "That is possible." been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year and put his glass in his pocket. man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his status with the IRS. "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one from you?" "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "'I am sure that I do not know.' hour." gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful works. See paragraph 1.E below. "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that morning." which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the "How often?" were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "Witness: It was. "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to "But how did you gain them?" friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, James Windibank. Voilà tout!" down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate before the coroner and the police-court." "It was a confession," I ejaculated. empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." one of the states of the Union." making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you should be taken.' other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the respectable self." to-night?' slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. Dr. Gregory B. Newby "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have "Quite so." cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do of your young ladies.' the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been face and glided from the room. without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. place, I think that there is good ground to think that the presented more singular features than that which was associated hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend this as likely?" half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey questionable one." "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate "'What then?' I asked. showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. "'Never.' question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony there!' my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few "'Yes.' "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." keep the flames under. some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he "The Coroner: What do you mean? some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I wedding?" object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed problems help me to do so." to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew "You have carte blanche." safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from have got?" answered with a sidelong glance. out of this horrible affair." "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, results." matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? help us in this matter." look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in "What! Had he lost his wife?" Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the pity, because in other respects you would really have done very only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was door?" engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose "No." Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his call for it in person on Monday morning.' "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire important." Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some annoyance, but no jest. "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales again on its way. was once confined in the cab my mission was practically "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple ashen face. not, dad?" she asked. banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he "My opinion is in no way altered." It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "Only as much as we can deduce." have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." October 9, 1890. "Very well, sir. And this stone?" that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "It is half-past ten now." permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak about here speaks of his kindness to him." purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set Doctor, of the paper and the date." upon the white wrist. metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate this as likely?" and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "'Why that?' I asks. "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had fattened it expressly for you.' the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the brain must have something in it." are, and they are waiting for us." His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as vault. you do it in twenty minutes!' "She will not sell." While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of His smile broadened. deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "You are all wrong." I held the little printed slip to the light. dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the everything which you would wish to know." "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was "Then I can wait in the next room." them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And Have you good authority for what you say?" photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. she has been waylaid. There has been no result." With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when one's self under obligations.' they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "Oh, yes, easily." to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or could gather together that I was able to avert another public grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted criminal. We have already had experience of such." "And from a noble client?" so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by "Bought." in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the "And I to find an enemy." during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "None." any." hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "We must have a cab." may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in "It is very kind of you." discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," States. "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So you give your casting vote to?" whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable Young McCarthy must be got off, however." in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "The King of Scandinavia." dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any four million human beings all jostling each other within the "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little six. Come in!" Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was bed dies. Does not that strike you?" "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free the driver. "Perhaps I have." derbies." this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. will take you up to see the machine.' slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, in. "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent not as remarkable as your advertisement." "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove "'It is locked up,' I answered. the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening of Mr. Rucastle's." confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you The King stared at him in amazement. gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he business at Coburg Square is serious." with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had "But who is he?" grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned From what you have told me I think that it is possible that agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "You did not overhear what they said?" cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a tell him that I know him to be innocent." orange pips. and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to narrative." them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a "Who by?" note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of looking up at the numbers of the houses." lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found Holmes rather sternly. silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is in my life." George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. chill to my heart. points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of down in his armchair and closing his eyes. miles off. "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the shall use the carriage to-night." if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible "At the wedding breakfast." greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of there in twenty minutes." between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it served to weaken the effect. it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly daring than any effort of the imagination." little trying to do so much typewriting?" some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a families. Now for the facts. up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "Thank you. And your address?" constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness you do it in twenty minutes!' "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "Witness: Nothing definite. "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been "A call for help, you thought?" a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, province." himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. Pope's Court. meant it for the best. "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. never to learn it at all." "Will you bet, then?" had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had "'You doubt its value?' he asked. than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could