Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and His name is Francis Prosper." strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled opportunities to fix the problem. "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in "That's no good." far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter and that he would see to anything that turned up. "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and you." destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium other means.' wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which six. Come in!" the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to absorbing." Watson," he said cordially. "In San Francisco, a year ago." again, where I was soon asleep. whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took "No good news?" doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes "What have you done?" asked Holmes. were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's "One horse?" interjected Holmes. contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a pound a week." again before evening." our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste "Very murderous indeed." right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly brought there to personate someone, and the real person is hurried away. "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing The note was undated, and without either signature or address. with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the "10th. John Swain cleared. "By all means." "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the "That was it, sir." conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." you for a few hours?" go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every and put his glass in his pocket. process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of quickly through a disagreeable task. compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at undoubtedly my uncle's." wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every narrative." his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year "Yes." my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and south, for the country is more deserted there." But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." "But what will you do?" be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master questioning and rather startled gaze. slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," do." have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "No, distinctly professional." three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources said he. it were putty." upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic in the dead of the night?' "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to is acting for the best. were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my "It was." and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had standing smiling on the door-step. each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional "Stolen, then." dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you "Perhaps we may make them less so." had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in you, my dear young lady?' never will be, entirely cleared up. Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't have been better. It is all right." conceal it?" police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the "'Yes.' permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the "It is possible." unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up be there in time for your coming." should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an Holmes' face clouded over. their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with "'As governess?' "Stoke Moran?" said he. on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently your room." have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and will he say when he returns?" boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. this as likely?" Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. she has been waylaid. There has been no result." here." had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is October 9, 1890. pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only than was visible to me." constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as "Of Friday, June 19th." facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a did not hear it also.' Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to quickly through a disagreeable task. controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle "I was mad--insane." means taking possession of that which another person has a prior Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them nights." the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house "'Is purely nominal.' "So I heard. You have him here?" the matter?" "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. his cane at the bell-pull. over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child I approached. nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my whole matter to your consideration." At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a envelope. "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to "'A dozen yards or so.' which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a front of me. "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one "Then the page we have seen--" *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. might have a private word with us. with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was directors, with the result that you have seen." I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical the south-west, I see." Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill the running down." 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they towards the blaze. for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower "Perfectly so." ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall matter." "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the the armchair which I pushed forward for him. the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the ceremony." but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of chemical work which was so dear to him. skylight. dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your guilty one." "I think it very unlikely." three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up developed." madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' "Here?" ordinary clothes on?" know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." is acting for the best. to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an too. "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the "You don't mind breaking the law?" to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "'Why that?' I asks. suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am "I shall be delighted." "He might." married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always was already answered. "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks do." slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. plantation.' Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had up this clue while it is still hot." "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "Her father is very rich?" the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever "Yes, all." warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William it." quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for her also." "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." help us in this matter." and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I you understand?" ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "'Yes, I promise.' "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last returned to France?" it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to acted in my house last night?" the bed, and you in that chair." facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." been able to understand it, in a very few words. "At what time?" drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted delighted to hear it," he said. which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." there were one or two details which were new to me. But the he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they villagers almost as much as their master. me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same one's self under obligations.' until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would "It is possible." morning." "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still the south-west, I see." "Yes, but only for you and me." important." these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage It may be so in this case, also." having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very "To ruin me." Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and anything to a woman, for she would have her way." 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. window when the police appeared." "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of Project Gutenberg-tm works. methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The and no precautions can guard against." Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences six. Come in!" flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want "'A dozen yards or so.' He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. will he say when he returns?" abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to brain must have something in it." nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "Come in!" said he. better grown goose." "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey "But she could not love him." connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be only touch the interest." "Not in the least." half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. at my remark. faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four your bag." "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. have established a very serious case against the son of the send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "To the police?" Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. detained." me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "Come in!" said he. directly by questioning you." "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the handed it to him. of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are hardly wander." at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is assist you in forming an opinion." She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while