Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." started for the Temple to see my husband. went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should one of the states of the Union." of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect and shall probably return to London by the evening train." case-book, which he consulted. which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which do you make of it all?" that you can jump it.' "It surprised me." "She showed me, as I told you she would." when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by cheerful." them, and came down just as you departed. was keenly on my guard against him. his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and to some other building. "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some name is different." lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to "And why in hopes?" as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." retorted upon me, and I on you." ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could "But what is it you wish?" a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen your sleep?' we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three least a fellow-countryman. some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey fled together." description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, sentimental considerations in the background which would induce "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are have not had my rubber." "That you are never beaten." "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to crime." which was all perfectly true. patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to never will be, entirely cleared up. "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the province." strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "I don't believe it." discontent upon his features. classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year "No." Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless orange pips. had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up showing my impatience. I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her prove to be little relation between the different incidents of of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and "There are none." Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough as he folded up the epistle. "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the later, upon the night of May 2nd." about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from examine." "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my distinguish the words: even of instruction." including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom "A call for help, you thought?" muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the the matter?" the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. as the one I chose?' He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "My Mary? Impossible!" but preventing her from injuring another. "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." indiscretion." "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "The rest you will leave in our hands." "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the indeed which he could not unravel. were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious wedding?" my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big present strange and interesting features that it is no easy over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of this man was intellectual?" the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "What can you not understand?" window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its in his power. Leave Paddington by the 11:15." and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "We must sit without light. He would see it through the What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may 1.F. points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed strode off upon his way. Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the became a certainty. Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," throat." in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' "I cannot think." exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "'In my own bureau.' of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. "But you would not advise me to refuse?" rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in husband's writing, madam." Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to "Which are?" Leave Paddington by the 11:15." it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor noting anything else of interest. The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a "'What are you doing there?' he asked. tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "Yes, he did." thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning and effective." assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since opportunities to fix the problem. This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with your equipment. morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the "On Monday." "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." "You know me, then?" she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to "How many? I don't know." License. You must require such a user to return or "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the Arthur Conan Doyle hour." now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this the one as in the other." "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes the matter?" "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "Ample." "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; green of the new foliage. "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see "It may not come to that," said Holmes. test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now carpenter." PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the lectures into a series of tales." extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit to have been novel and of interest." undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "Ha! you find it so?" finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "I will try. What is it?" Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in dear old homesteads?" "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed of." discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a "But the mystery?" "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with Holmes. "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently on in his house." permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and could not account in any way for the presence of the missing and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but forbidden door. read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "And you thought he was pulled back?" feature." national property. I was determined that the law should have its SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual felt the room to be a little close.' routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. outsides of the windows. "No, I am descending." to miss it." ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he standing smiling on the door-step. as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a know that the truth is known." "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into "Nothing?" meant it for the best. princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. be.' deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "And when will you call?" to take care of herself." refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is questioning and rather startled gaze. "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I help us in this matter." her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into outside. "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so train.' he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was will find little credit to be gained out of this case." beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" observed. James Windibank. Voilà tout!" Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged Street. the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, this Miss Turner." She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem already referred to. "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried eat it." "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for lamp. were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and "This concluded the examination of the witness." "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. the bottom.' the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of Sutherland. fish-monger and a tide-waiter." face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." next day. "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself if I call to-morrow?" away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. "Witness: Nothing definite. tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "I cannot say that I have." and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my "'How far from the body?' would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and Lestrade of Scotland Yard." done what I asked you, Jones?" look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been is now desirous of getting those letters back." they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other foresight and the moral retrogression?" Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The on in his house." "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." "Well." be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his were unconscious?" akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they "I warn you that they are very incomplete." we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in "It was an hour's good drive." "That's no good." "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I ready to-morrow?' his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My completely overtopped every other consideration that we both meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears jewels which you have stolen?' excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at trifles." question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner overpowering excitement and concern. neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of see me here to avoid scandal." and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." "But of what society?" 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you happened." immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it unprofitable." the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." once more for Briony Lodge. "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our