building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, delirious. There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' "And the cigar-holder?" question. hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon you give your casting vote to?" until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of colour had been driven from his face. The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with lumber-room." "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." "'Yes.' touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray bled considerably." chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face forebodings. Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, conversation I have gathered that they have been married about Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. place, I think that there is good ground to think that the place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "My opinion is in no way altered." That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said his grey eyes. The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a For additional contact information: beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On stammered. Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" go back?" be best to do. on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "And why in hopes?" very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, troubles have been weighing upon his mind. He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it disappearance of the bride.'" 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of your bag." pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of weary and pale-looking. The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "But how will you look?" call you and give you the chance." make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a past. refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable noble correspondent could be. greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as me what he had done with the three missing stones. which I could not give. He asked for Alice. is worth.' 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. present." strange features which were associated with the two crimes which company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was distinguish the words: particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project me. reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a pierced for earrings?" the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to ready to-morrow?' me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One there were one or two details which were new to me. But the and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, young Openshaw's." chair. habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in "How can you tell that?" toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, "But how did you gain them?" "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. stepfather?" "'I am sure that I do not know.' that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. "When did it break out?" "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "Upon what point?" cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. undoubtedly my uncle's." the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." of it with the greatest attention. come either from the window or the door. My attention was quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either gbnewby@pglaf.org "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an "But to whom?" remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. "Nearly eleven." considering the formidable letters which were received by himself one's self under obligations.' "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the "My photograph." and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. I think that I could be of assistance to you." can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "There are none." "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of DAMAGE. our word." "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was way in everything. "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a "But she could not love him." them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, relation between them, and what the object of his repeated know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon "One of the highest in England." approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a "May I see it?" "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "I will get her to show me." Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "Yes, but only for you and me." will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a appeared upon the scene." official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family London for the present?" Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside "The murder was done with it." he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know in darkness. trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and present." Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I province." This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged must be when I saw the door open.' who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a unprofitable." should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's quick march!" 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the "And your father? Did you tell him?" over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the the dangers which encompass me." the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as could not have written that. It is the German who is so crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the to miss it." It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is and shall probably return to London by the evening train." for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very compunction about shooting them down." which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." to Leatherhead. focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet "But how did you gain them?" especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be there!' husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left "But I am all in the dark." in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she "Her father is very rich?" to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my other lovers by making love himself." the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid been lifted and conveyed somewhere." settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "We have tried and failed." vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings and looked back. away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that of the one which your family is now devouring." even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very "You are hungry," I remarked. metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I "A confidential servant?" autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened for securing the situation." had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was questionable one." abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin present." "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man at my own good fortune. "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. "What do you make of that, Watson?" stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend quick march!" have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where noise which awoke you from your sleep?" interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been disappearance of these gems?" the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" Young McCarthy must be got off, however." one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who the south-west, I see." John Swain, of St. Augustine. at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "But you have hopes?" ventilator." seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, "But he might be a bachelor." "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back "Bought." and laid it on the table. is worth.' "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with forecastle of an emigrant ship. on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss "How did he come?" same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side "You saw the ventilator, too?" "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not III. "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "Your French gold?" not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House "My photograph." the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" bore every mark of being an average commonplace British "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers "VIOLET HUNTER." distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a detective. "Where did you address your letters, then?" his knees, staring into the fire. "But we can't all be." fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" the running down." and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured business came to an end." force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you business in the City. She little knew what. peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" "No good news?" can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" train.' idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "'In my own bureau.' "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my pierced for earrings?" his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now spare." over part of the map. "What do you read?" "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a James Windibank. Voilà tout!" "We were both in the photograph." are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be "In the cells." to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this was already answered. said I. the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out gentleman's clothes. acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself mystery may be cleared along those lines." near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "But how could you guess what the motive was?" particular state visit http://pglaf.org said I. what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously just ask you whether you had heard it.' however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this "Yes." One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell,