"What!" he roared. even of instruction." branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few "'You doubt its value?' he asked. the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside success. has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a assist you in forming an opinion." burst out into a roar of laughter. old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. him. the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. "Yes, they were peculiar boots." our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment Holmes' room. was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in John Swain, of St. Augustine. I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "I see no marks." "What then?" I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." there in twenty minutes." number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and depend upon my doing so.' Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of you." Leave Paddington by the 11:15." and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, what I may call a really hard day's work." and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done Lee, in the county of Kent." that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of coroner's jury." opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is "Oh, the cause is excellent!" had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "Yes. He waved his hands." august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we retorted upon me, and I on you." "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called you give your casting vote to?" Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, generous with you in money matters.' him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. interested in these little problems, and since you are good WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly your Highness to the police-station?" course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my "What! You do not mean bodies?" outside." which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "That sounds a little paradoxical." his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the into the room. "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. take the flies, but not before." Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe "But it has twice been burgled." balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what window when the police appeared." the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the "When did she vanish, then?" "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, whether it answered to the description of any of their mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love his grey eyes. I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the was a loud and authoritative tap. be sorry for having acted so harshly." absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door and all of them with the keenest interest. she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a article?" rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of in my life." person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for there has been an enclosure here!" the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if think that he is innocent?" when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our "That also I could fathom." as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, that there was nothing in it, after all." To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can unprecedented a position." also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause straightened it out again. "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of companion. "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a "Game for a morning drive?" "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her "'In my own bureau.' "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong she might be summoned. deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "Get out!" said he. upon the shelf for the interim." "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "Imitated." would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had "I am all attention, madam." research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the Clair, of Lee." shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of examine." "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. means taking possession of that which another person has a prior down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." "Nothing." to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his hardly wander." closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our this Miss Turner." "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it The police have openly confessed that they can at present make has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of that destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him test if we have an answer to our advertisement." "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his "What shall I do?" deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few was a perfect sample of the class. "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting said he at last. a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where "That's no good." with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. one or two very singular points about this room. For example, away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he thought that she would have been so carried away." hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is weary and pale-looking. diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he character. the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must against a man in the prime of life?" their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a to surprise her." There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of and the church but not where the lady lived." that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from "At what time?" met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain over his head with a sweet womanly caress. as yours." did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or Pool. that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, "Yes." a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less legal crime." heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a meant it for the best. "Nothing." "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss "'Quite sure, dad.' should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, questioning and rather startled gaze. already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he up this clue while it is still hot." remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. speckled band?" you." the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" characteristics, but those are the more obvious." is acting for the best. man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would place, I think that there is good ground to think that the "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "What then?" All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that said he. are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself think, you have already met." "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his "ARAT," I read. "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' tell me that you intended to go into harness." "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the union?" it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your back to my heart. 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it held up the lantern and gazed about him. can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in Holmes." daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in ceremony." short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings "'Ample.' "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good "'Oh, no.' "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that husband's writing, madam." carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place make me his representative both with the servants and with the 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue "We must sit without light. He would see it through the could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass "Then he might have called to you?" cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and "'Quite sure, dad.' the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying electronic works "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken "You are all wrong." themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of "Of what?" "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than Farm upon the left." and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of happened." hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. triumphant cloud from his cigarette. three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the the bottom.' could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that over here." "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the her also." "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately Young McCarthy must be got off, however." very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already "You did not overhear what they said?" of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about Cross for the Continent." business at Coburg Square is serious." outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to both be extremely obliged.' this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the ran thus: "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated are, and they are waiting for us." "I was sure that I might rely on you." pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his October 9, 1890.