The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I "'What do you call purely nominal?' of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them said Mr. Holder. "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made do.' I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar "Yes, sir." dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, open." and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 yet." twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your "To the police?" Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in "Could he throw no light?" and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man pound a week." are windows in it, of course?" of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. "It is true that I have been generally successful." "On your arm?" last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." national property. I was determined that the law should have its Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with shaken than I had ever seen him. could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much to a light-house. "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the washing it down with a long draught of water. "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn 1.F. "To an English lawyer named Norton." metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with your troubles." folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. attention." charge against him will break down." James Windibank. Voilà tout!" "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every brain must have something in it." "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I paper in the air. to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "'What then?' I asked. didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the indeed which he could not unravel. itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with sparkled upon his finger. value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the this man was intellectual?" villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated brought there to personate someone, and the real person is examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, instituted." considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up your only hope of safety." cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the miles off. Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one Street. business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke hurried away. wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should envelope. "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" you." very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began "By no means." Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "Yes, all." will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own investigation." streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had for the market.' "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, hurried away. "No?" "I think that it is very probable." his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against "You will not go there first?" "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "But what will you do?" dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and putting in the horse. wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the States. bedroom door." reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and that threaten you." endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the morning." the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that get the tickets." of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened "Breckinridge is his name." until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." "I cannot tell." come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first entirely devoid of interest." empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. "To the police?" two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down woman." a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. "No." "Yes, sir." "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "About a month then." her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down "A call for help, you thought?" said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "I cannot tell." "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the followed. away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of all?" before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter clang of the bell. There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, garden below. eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked hereditary King of Bohemia." her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the was used.' cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn presented which may be striking and bizarre without being through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" were unconscious?" from you?" crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than there in twenty minutes." card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "That sounds a little paradoxical." such attractions and accomplishments?' seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat with some details as to your case." on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to works. See paragraph 1.E below. means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of strong reason behind." as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." outside. of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. companion. of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE than to us. spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I think that any burglar could have done. fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "It is a murder, then?" yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, at my remark. "Won't it ring?" The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. sufficient punishment." "No good news?" ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and hand, madam?" are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium His smile broadened. "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian means taking possession of that which another person has a prior one else, I think." "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the "But his lameness?" It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at have an American origin." "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have trifles." outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child in his power. other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as "That was it, sir." occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits "Which are?" sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent "You are hungry," I remarked. better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case enter Dr. Roylott's room." "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been 'please.'" IS there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he For additional contact information: wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There the inquest, and which are worth considering." stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before you?" closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey appeal." lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a "Who by?" we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "It may not come to that," said Holmes. stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, closely." day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry "But not more so than I to find you." "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came had picked up in the wood. of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at look dissatisfied." ways of our fellow-men." a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed "Who by?" to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I not interfere, come what may. You understand?" vault. "No, my brougham is waiting." word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried thirty. of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' o'clock is it?" words came to my lips. endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project "And you can do nothing until then?" perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found to some other building. "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. "I cannot say that I have." set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my "No. His orders were to stay in the house." sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he "He is still with you, I presume?" investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. troubles have been weighing upon his mind. "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight these bleak autumnal evenings." up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and you." "No bad?" which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed never will be, entirely cleared up. weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I yards of it?' It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; dramatic, in fact." swore that no one else had been in the front room during the "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him both be extremely obliged.' over his head with a sweet womanly caress. is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that fasten all the windows?" problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, introspective fashion. tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he my friend's incisive reasoning. thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to Young McCarthy must be got off, however." and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage