prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed she might be summoned. reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not "But what will you do?" unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, "I don't say that. Perhaps." know what is wrong with it.' this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the the inquest, and which are worth considering." that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I occurred." dramatic, in fact." on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was as the one I chose?' perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a observed. "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to October 9, 1890. morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his weary and pale-looking. Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there Holmes' room. surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had there were so many in the whole country as were brought together "And for present expenses?" which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of II. on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, individual and becomes the badge of a society." other, as fresh and trim as possible. merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." front of the hall door has given its name to the place. but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of question you as to those details which seem to me to be most bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner "His face fell immediately. Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." father's place of business?" really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his a little more before I quite committed myself. business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend directly by questioning you." "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, shadow pass over his face as I spoke. so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting at home. back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I cause to be." His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily mysterious business." has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. delighted to hear it," he said. the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, locked. peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' my secret was safe in his possession. coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "The knees of his trousers." especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" union?" "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "How often?" reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I followed. the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. asked. arrested. You then--" by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. "By no means." son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. Henry Baker is a member." appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "You have the photograph?" implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest "No good news?" all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there "But not more so than I to find you." There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. kind enough to tell me what I should do." "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that "And Miss Sutherland?" the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another "That's no good." "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, wedding?" At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no "'Where to?' right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away shoulder; "he's all right." all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the fattened it expressly for you.' the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was in this way: "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" "We must sit without light. He would see it through the out of this horrible affair." We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would what is your own theory as to what took place?" father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was just ask you whether you had heard it.' was once confined in the cab my mission was practically princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who the stable lane now." "'Yes, it was gone.' Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm "'And the work?' reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought "Did your wife hear all this?" "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "Yes, he did." perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried 'please.'" once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our coroner's jury." parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for nonsense.' Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "Then he might have called to you?" the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, suspect him." them present such singular features as the strange train of "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" placed his cuttings. "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman troubles have been weighing upon his mind. of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly returning from some small jollification and was making his way http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, in this way: "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a fatally injured? business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. and the church but not where the lady lived." thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "And how did he make his money?" over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could chemical work which was so dear to him. the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar forehead. the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which enter into my head. the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning "Who by?" 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' open." beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "One horse?" interjected Holmes. bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have what do you think they found in the pockets?" the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his ran thus: little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. outsides of the windows. the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you "Look there!" said he. running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the breakfast." side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any "It is very clear." of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "When did she vanish, then?" fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one speckled band?" the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no outside." was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but "Did you become engaged then?" investigation." "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here business." but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss whereabouts. encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "And now?" I asked. in the hope of finding them." young Openshaw's." It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her me upon any point which I do not make clear." "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than works. a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice present." the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' she to prove their authenticity?" subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent do.' Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. get the tickets." maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no "The murder was done with it." body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed of campaign. after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has his grey eyes. should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' "Yes. He waved his hands." present." whether it answered to the description of any of their young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that "But how?" "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking III. confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently quick march!" are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I crime." any little problem which you may submit to me." as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through dates and names. street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that that he has suffered." time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken looking up at the numbers of the houses." leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical fluttered off among the others. look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual went to the Alpha were town bred." that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "I should wish to." attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, wedding?" my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." it right.' minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with must compliment you." my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the hair?' "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the with frightened eyes at his accuser. could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it said he. chambers. "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have "So I heard. You have him here?" occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind this unhappy family?" battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that here and I will read it to you: that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, seven miles from Eyford Station.' hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" straighten it?" "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a "And is that all?" he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his have one." Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." impression behind it as though a window had gently closed few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. "I fear not." you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any next day. save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and "'Ample.' Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was this unhappy family?" and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass shall use the carriage to-night." But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper appeared upon the scene." side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my the dangers which encompass me." here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest "What I expected to see." that I may have something better before very many minutes are "He is still with you, I presume?" "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's acted in my house last night?" "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," have an American origin." attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered considering the formidable letters which were received by himself nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in both be extremely obliged.' go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their himself in a perplexing position. "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who nothing with him." "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "Proceed, then." "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late