husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers seen the man in the road." kindly on the shoulder. armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a or in danger--" "What can you not understand?" conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "And your mother is alive?" with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "It is his hat." Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by gone. "I saw her in conversation with her maid." foresight and the moral retrogression?" the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired so far?" "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box better grown goose." Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our and the church but not where the lady lived." "None." In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under which are rolled in Rotterdam." have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." about. the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. the child." soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were to where he stood hid behind the curtain. few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "How many? I don't know." dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "Nothing." "Nothing." one of the states of the Union." his eyes and forehead. simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each "At the wedding breakfast." of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "'Yes, sir.' himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. habit of advancing money.' hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots thin legs towards the fire. greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a Young McCarthy must be got off, however." recall any case within my experience which looked at the first years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the of campaign. faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, words came to my lips. creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "But she will refuse." very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back wife's character?" "No." the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" that?' that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural "A call for help, you thought?" "Yes." opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her "And what did you learn from him?" going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, formed some opinion?" as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with writers could invent nothing more crude." "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that villagers almost as much as their master. one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low vague figure huddled up in the darkness. yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the "Murdered?" of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his Have you good authority for what you say?" to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. detained." "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way your room." 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a beg that you will break it off." that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am *** START: FULL LICENSE *** her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must his fortune, and I went back to pa. works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is disappearance of these gems?" room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at bachelor.' job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California interests were the same as his." and shall probably return to London by the evening train." Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and down. request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "Precisely." age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to despaired of." "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "He slept on the premises." written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a key of the affair now." is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of maid will bring up your coffee." papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to "It surprised me." "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would shall not find me ungrateful." caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or have had none more fantastic than this." "I have hopes." Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my bachelor.' "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss his cane at the bell-pull. making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "From his hat?" betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and "Oh, fresh and glossy." dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was to a light-house. "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my Surrey." grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he brought there to personate someone, and the real person is "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. My friend smiled. from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his mystery!" "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "No, thank goodness, she did not." been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his you found me to-night--and running through the front room she at a side door. the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential giving me time to thank him. had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "'A dozen yards or so.' generous with you in money matters.' There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt "I assure you that I am in your hands." while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in stepfather?" may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well ill-usage at the hands of fortune. his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. "But how?" jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I which should have the effect of calling the attention of the the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical was lame." I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he a little more before I quite committed myself. journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. outbreak?" Watson," he said cordially. elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" "When did she vanish, then?" upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "We were both in the photograph." hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears "What!" he roared. do." Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you the driver. all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how back to my heart. and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it "The knees of his trousers." exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which arrangements." makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on "What can you not understand?" feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there John Swain, of St. Augustine. "It is his hat." "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose "In which, sir?" "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. The summons was a brief and urgent one. "Then you may entirely rely on me." "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending stepfather?" cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "Precisely so. But how--" having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free absolutely follow my advice in every respect." incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said arrangements." upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell "It is very kind of you." "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. several quiet little villages up there." very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be you want, then?' know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "Very. But will he see it?" The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door "You have the photograph?" And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "I am all attention, madam." for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man is entirely a question of barometric pressure." but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good mystery." to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." Holmes' thin, eager face. "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael south, for the country is more deserted there." gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended at once, for I have only half an hour." to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. fish-monger and a tide-waiter." colour had been driven from his face. stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, entirely devoid of interest." "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may village inn over there?" "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I showing my impatience. better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask wife's character?" was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many of receipt of the work. "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted lips." disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were this man was intellectual?" 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, giving me time to thank him. the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he bearing upon the case." might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, to his chemical studies. as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number of." "And what did you see?" round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been on re-entering her father's house?" pity, because in other respects you would really have done very in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past examine." man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after "But you have hopes?" also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six The note was undated, and without either signature or address. "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further floor. maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, "'In my own bureau.' perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "Yes." perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the that, and I came down." fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we used to be." first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the prisoner's face. assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for "In answer to an advertisement." you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge some city in a dream. breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a prisoner's face. you." to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front the matter." place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "It is true that I have been generally successful." you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his