akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, the matter." blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I goes." it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have plantation.' a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the him, that man would not have given me such complete information deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, "9th. McCauley cleared. whereabouts. in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "'Certainly not.' "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the will not take me long to tell. "She walked into the breakfast-room." time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is was the fact that his father should, according to his account, which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the she used." thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we Literary Archive Foundation superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been was lame." fuss that is made over them." "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social looking up at the numbers of the houses." that I may have something better before very many minutes are into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a neither fascinating nor artistic." him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "It is solved." near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came "The vanishing of the lady." "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my and have this put in the evening papers." "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement village inn over there?" "'And the work?' bears upon the case?" The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in absorbing." would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was "I have my revolver," said I. over part of the map. "What do you read?" another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her details." vague figure huddled up in the darkness. Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not Edgeware Road. "It is half-past ten now." home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of down in his armchair and closing his eyes. sound at heart." note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can "'What would be the hours?' I asked. not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind him and tried to hold him back. of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the your bag." honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." entirely devoid of interest." With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall "Entirely." the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "'Is purely nominal.' newspaper selections." order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the is entirely a question of barometric pressure." violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should "He might." "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its from you?" superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly "A thing like a cleaver," said he. I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the "That is not always so easy." closing the door. copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you "I am armed." very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his sparkled upon his finger. "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed third from London." It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be even so self-evident a thing as that." both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my of the efforts of the United States government and of the better erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already bare slabs of marble. "How did he come?" look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "Then I can wait in the next room." threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in this unhappy family?" pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "I do." orange pips. such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from populous neighbourhood." "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding Clair, of Lee." his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three "You horrify me!" several quiet little villages up there." "Ten will be early enough." practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really "What, then?" works. See paragraph 1.E below. fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. most interesting one." once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of are, and they are waiting for us." "Is he quiet?" objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that present strange and interesting features that it is no easy traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the and shall probably return to London by the evening train." granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two "How do you know, then?" 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. that before taking the final step I should like to submit the fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a "Bought." aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. with some details as to your case." "We must have a cab." "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. "To ruin me." from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is call the police, let the police find what they can.' their singular warning or token before them when starting upon me what he had done with the three missing stones. "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "I was certainly surprised to find you there." Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered "It is his hat." "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But have had none more fantastic than this." end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in my secret was safe in his possession. "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar "'Certainly not.' them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "You'll never persuade me to believe that." his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I unprecedented a position." unprofitable." down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, delirious. have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking you do it in twenty minutes!' both be extremely obliged.' there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, will he say when he returns?" points to suicide?" which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was their singular warning or token before them when starting upon bonnet, and went out." "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included "I have my revolver," said I. as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If You can understand that this register and diary may implicate were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "Who by?" from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, rooms." fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us out of this horrible affair." broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a "None." "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any tell them apart.' respectable self." dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, you." from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said closing the door. towards the blaze. dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed taking in every detail of the apartment. It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from vault. someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every think you a quite exceptional woman." greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, "A client, then?" 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, "I don't say that. Perhaps." reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his "How long did she speak to this Alice?" fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." think that any burglar could have done. in your London, you will know that the office of the company is "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It "No, distinctly professional." "I think it very unlikely." outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis highroad, where all traces were lost. he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, father's young wife. effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "What do you mean?" work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just drawing your inferences." of campaign. have got?" of the way of danger. there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up highroad, where all traces were lost. deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing to tell." eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present she has been waylaid. There has been no result." do.' The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "Certainly, madam." "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "The knees of his trousers." awkward doing business with an alias." this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" "Will you go?" feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty "You are certainly joking, Holmes." from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the John Swain, of St. Augustine. client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. and it need not interfere very much with one's other concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared said he. some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own children over to America with him, so that I found myself without shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. about. they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, will be renamed. there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. taking in every detail of the apartment. "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I bare slabs of marble. will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been I took the paper from him and read as follows: still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, these bleak autumnal evenings."