that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and "Yes." cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," "I think that it is very probable." case-book, which he consulted. stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads works. See paragraph 1.E below. meant it for the best. "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we that the gas is not laid on in his house?" upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." papers diligently of late, have you not?" 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you "So it appears." there in twenty minutes." "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror breakfast and whispered something to her husband. the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: "He disappeared so suddenly." the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn ready to-morrow?' sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, Lestrade of Scotland Yard." wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon salesman. sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "'Yes, it was gone.' family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press shall not find me ungrateful." direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence observed. sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I leave you to your papers for a little." "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just Chief Executive and Director last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. "A thing like a cleaver," said he. hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "Did your wife hear all this?" fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole "I never have." "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from morning." white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give should be so warm over such a trifle." so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very reach." little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, fled together." and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an "In San Francisco, a year ago." would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. had died away into the silence from which it rose. enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to "It is possible." weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." have one." not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "Oh, the cause is excellent!" over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose "An enemy?" flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been criminal. We have already had experience of such." "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, "And how have you succeeded?" he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot business in the City. She little knew what. "I have come for advice." "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "Could he throw no light?" "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "Awake, Watson?" he asked. "Where, then?" "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his secret." crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "Breckinridge is his name." key turn in the lock." hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab you do it in twenty minutes!' opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's congratulate you again." it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not "And the cigar-holder?" devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I "I will, Miss Turner." "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. morning." when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but at once, for I have only half an hour." "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "Not him." I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, was it brought him the coronet? in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must colour had been driven from his face. you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual to surprise her." views." on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you "Yes, sir." said he, "my real name is James Ryder." my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have call for protection in the marriage market, for the present merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted happened." burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here indiscretion." in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out "Come in!" said he. visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "You have carte blanche." comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and such attractions and accomplishments?' us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She "But I am all in the dark." in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in been anything against him. He had for years been known as a known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat "I will do it." "I cannot as yet see any connection." round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So "You have the photograph?" imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have green of the new foliage. tassel actually lying upon the pillow. you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the "What are they?" grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out "My private note-paper." with you alone." "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "Witness: Nothing definite. gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." "This concluded the examination of the witness." the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little Watson," he said cordially. pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too knowledge of the world." without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out examination of the premises, but without finding anything which the matter?" morning." before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "Proceed, then." introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I salesman. occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the again before evening." Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw fled together." come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his "Of what day?" of receipt of the work. Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would geese which you supplied to the Alpha." simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "You will not go there first?" furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to is now desirous of getting those letters back." were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it "I see no marks." that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he carriage. It was a chestnut." "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the this poor creature." "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had nonsense.' wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but "I am to be neutral?" the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and "'I shall certainly be there.' was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. "That sounds a little paradoxical." be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I which I could not give. He asked for Alice. "I am about to be married." companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same back to my heart. have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You vague figure huddled up in the darkness. "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for open." to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed figure." meanly of me." American. Then who could this American be, and why should he habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. answer." ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has "I am sure." I shall continue with my miserable story. lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "This photograph!" "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of ago." "If I can be of use." he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be shadow pass over his face as I spoke. poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. "Absolutely?" come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I people in all walks of life. the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for "Your French gold?" "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "And I say east," said my patient. "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his "Eh? What was that?" "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and any." "'What do you call purely nominal?' outside. charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" newspaper selections." the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what little trying to do so much typewriting?" course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate I have it here in my museum." Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "What have you to say now?" see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then the warnings." for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." prisoner's face. Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "Where, then, is my wife?" "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I "And the murderer?" prison!" well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "'There is a drive, then?' "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "I cannot tell." what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "And did you observe any change in her then?" morning." the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase opened a pocket-book and took out a note. fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the "Witness: It was. reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself leave you to your papers for a little." years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were friend's singular character. "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got it right.' weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you someone who had been in Australia." in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I "Quite so." from you?" hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek new duties?' data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." "Have you it here?" "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with spare." about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring bonnet, and went out." out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, suddenly upon us." a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "Dark enough and sinister enough." "But his left-handedness." something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate which are rolled in Rotterdam." in the hope of finding them." of them has the shutters up.' they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. "Yes." uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he