"You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, case before our client came into the room." "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding You want to know what became of those geese?" Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and noble correspondent could be. thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "Yes. He waved his hands." English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just hour." that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing him to go away.' done what I asked you, Jones?" their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any telegram would bring me down to your help." "Witness: It was. words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential hard-headed British jury." a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of "But how could you guess what the motive was?" dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid works. See paragraph 1.E below. came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the "BALLARAT." be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs bell. Holmes whistled. Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has and prosperity to your house. Good-night." "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes cost them two and thirty pounds." should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of "So I have heard." that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He indeed which he could not unravel. human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" them, and came down just as you departed. ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the "Where to?" something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography This is what he says: "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "To ruin me." "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, October 9, 1890. it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets system of imprisonment?" were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "Nothing?" fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post leaning back in his chair. stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "It is possible." "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on it with his own hands." deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the The King stared at him in amazement. knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, wall." a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I death." "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before and no precautions can guard against." which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and the stable lane now." your co-operation." astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your of Mr. Rucastle's." rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just province." "One of the highest in England." murdered man." "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had fishes. was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little signal between you and your father? which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told tail." A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six companion. Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of "I shall most certainly do so." passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement wall." "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What "'It is locked up,' I answered. the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, that he has suffered." "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." reach." spark where all is dark to me." nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The to-night?' "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I himself to hunt down. the stones. though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a his cane at the bell-pull. home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "'Yes.' analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' woven round him. dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and "Yes, it would be as well." Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this noting anything else of interest. collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of is so. I know all about McCarthy." unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of into the bag, and made for the door. passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by "I will do it." know all about it," he snarled. papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy "I am still in the dark." was a perfect sample of the class. The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our made him keep the appointment." license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been said I. when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he 'I should be able to look after that for you.' "'What are you doing there?' he asked. which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in father's place of business?" man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of you want, then?' both be extremely obliged.' You can understand that this register and diary may implicate "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "No, finished." "The vanishing of the lady." the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the again on its way. as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "Where is it, then?" a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of "Not in a good cause." however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." "Yes, they were peculiar boots." believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let It may be so in this case, also." "Certainly." photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very he bowed and left the room without another word. the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut results." true." Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. "Was she in good spirits?" confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter "'I have already given you my word.' temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to could gather together that I was able to avert another public enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no "Yes. He waved his hands." "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," "What of the rat, then?" there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "To an end?" police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I hair?' "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. "How are you getting on?" whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you think that any burglar could have done. drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is swore that no one else had been in the front room during the impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism once more. have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the "That is possible." "Then he might have called to you?" means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself to affect your life." "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' "Yes, there are nearly always some there." pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "Where, indeed?" woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were conduct the inquiry." "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had McCarthy's innocence. the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "BALLARAT." ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "Of what day?" guilty parties." his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then address. "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel other lovers by making love himself." did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "'Where to?' visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his "You saw the ventilator, too?" "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I remarked. derbies." cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "But he might be a bachelor." 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and towards the blaze. twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul "'Most admirably.' Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was better grown goose." "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation a suggestive one." back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions events, Mr. Windibank!" only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was to that open window." "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be "'Entirely.' rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to "On the contrary, this is the right side." wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. Arthur Conan Doyle chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such place no limit on the sum I may draw." scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and one or two very singular points about this room. For example, from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been "She walked into the breakfast-room." charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was shadow pass over his face as I spoke. dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "I am following you closely," I answered. public press." feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort "Do you know him?" quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." chance." an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was "I never have." wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my and capable of preserving a secret.' "I will try. What is it?" "'Very good.' and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my little adventures." I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more at once, for I have only half an hour." "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to to change my dress. use an arc-and-compass breastpin." the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining the inquest, and which are worth considering." heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a threw himself down with his face to the pillow. "How are you getting on?" the coronet at all injured?" Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we directly by questioning you." clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy present." "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" cause to be." was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." you." as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to dead, shall be safe with us." India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence neither fascinating nor artistic." hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned them, and came down just as you departed. in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in "What office?" it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. ready to-morrow?' From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The the bed, and you in that chair." rose-bushes. Watson," he said cordially. "BALLARAT." half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All