was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "And you can do nothing until then?" "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the forbidden door. that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, "That was it, sir." unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the "And you can do nothing until then?" schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a and have this put in the evening papers." he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of less than 26s. 4d. will take you up to see the machine.' you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence cigars in their mouths. address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's married her." to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation events, Mr. Windibank!" "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were in this note: when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" formed some opinion?" "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." at a side door. but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must thought that she would have been so carried away." of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" meant it for the best. five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire him!" all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have said Mr. Holder. their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between electronic works There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "The doctor?" mystery." "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of distinguish the words: key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The "I guessed as much." the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a friends, not even his own brother. Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling mystery." sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. official police." Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but his grey eyes. from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." remarked. and it need not interfere very much with one's other was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. "What of the rat, then?" furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" "But he might be a bachelor." immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the himself. for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young gone before you can get him to hospital." discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a "I have a cab outside." of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! "Never." named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "May I see it?" walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter garden below. "'Is purely nominal.' the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. "Did your wife hear all this?" IS "Bought." highroad, where all traces were lost. "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If You can understand that this register and diary may implicate insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes "A greater distance to travel." "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which salesman. request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other "May I see it?" "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature is," said he presently: very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came copied or distributed: profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that his cane at the bell-pull. other means.' thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of "Nothing?" washing it down with a long draught of water. shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father name is different." insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "Which are?" sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a or in danger--" morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned in the port of London." have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the "And I to find an enemy." "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my the warnings." "Ha! you find it so?" The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "You saw the ventilator, too?" smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three come either from the window or the door. My attention was "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; been deceived." and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in there was no need for father to know." from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from whereabouts. and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "Yes, at the mines." ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "Then I do not see the point." the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. which I could not give. He asked for Alice. "Was your sister dressed?" in his power. finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and "An enemy?" photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to "I saw her in conversation with her maid." not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid have accepted such a situation. work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at cigar and let me expound." and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had written, and locked the door of the office after me. no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. the coronet at all injured?" "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which indeed happy." and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of least a most suspicious remark." cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat that threaten you." Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? furiously. furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable woman who has had her own way to make in the world. persecution?" it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. it? Did I buy the geese off you?" "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. strong reason behind." recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into retorted upon me, and I on you." as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful stepfather?" hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me our word." room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady think you a quite exceptional woman." a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was his huge brown hands. and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. "None." hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into have I gained?" "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more I was concerned in it." "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his Pool. "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, "'About the same.' the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had what is your own theory as to what took place?" About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the "None." grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "'Tell me all about it,' said I. received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his fishes. "He disappeared so suddenly." to change my dress. have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day "Do you receive much company?" he asked. slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, invisible to me," I remarked. "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a bled considerably." be. the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone 'I should be able to look after that for you.' the Assizes." redistribution. his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. the inquest, and which are worth considering." envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's be there in time for your coming." Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to is," said he presently: "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for maiden herself was most instructive." It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless Have you good authority for what you say?" "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it "What can it mean?" I gasped. most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "And your mother is alive?" any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be wife's character?" from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, companion. to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "Then I do not see the point." my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand Edgeware Road. scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that His name is Francis Prosper." despair." possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, even of instruction." hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge "Tired-looking or fresh?" town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though during which he might have communicated with his friend the "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, with you alone." Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." business." "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and what these perils are?" "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. examination of the premises, but without finding anything which there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens all?" "Not in a good cause." blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has "I will, Miss Turner." morning." public press." continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in I took the paper from him and read as follows: leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until room?" "Did he not advertise?" computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our upon the white wrist. pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at have an American origin." Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you of them has the shutters up.' "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other "It looks newer than the other things?" held up the lantern and gazed about him. remarked. strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and yet." as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" relation between them, and what the object of his repeated Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense fat-encircled eyes. round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would country, and eventually married, without anyone having a as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "Where to?" one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get as yours." "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite to me. saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest I. with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he "ARAT," I read. interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the strong reason behind." Pope's Court.