saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of "He disappeared so suddenly." that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out "What is it?" "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and Sutherland. the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "We have tried and failed." there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "To an English lawyer named Norton." "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the telegram would bring me down to your help." He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one danger is over." against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. out of this horrible affair." astonishment. safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" some terrible trap for her." corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a where we are going." sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I "But how could you guess what the motive was?" power." appointment with me for six o'clock?" fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "Entirely." "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank "What can you not understand?" had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my "'As governess?' I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "How long did she speak to this Alice?" The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She "In heaven's name, what for?" and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time little trying to do so much typewriting?" his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you particular state visit http://pglaf.org of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "No, my brougham is waiting." "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with said he. In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, the little opening for the ventilator is." "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, something of him before." occurred." world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and ways including including checks, online payments and credit card this poor creature." silent! Oh, he will be silent!' charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "You have it, sir, just as it happened." money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the "Quite so." turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a "I have solved it." "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some presented more singular features than that which was associated "I should be immensely obliged to you." swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter prove to be little relation between the different incidents of away in different directions, and I went off to make my own had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "And you thought he was pulled back?" stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "And did you observe any change in her then?" London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed "Two days later this same performance was gone through under all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." "No, I am descending." to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. less than 26s. 4d. 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down woman." and a shock of very red hair. "Quite so." mystery!" "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "Where, then, is my wife?" points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "Won't it ring?" once more. a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous the station." logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The will take you up to see the machine.' Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The whether it answered to the description of any of their "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that his wife has ceased to love him." a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end been able to understand it, in a very few words. disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself weighed down with some great anxiety. quickly through a disagreeable task. completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable spark where all is dark to me." his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. his eyes and forehead. perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." the window, rose as we entered. house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "The King of Scandinavia." would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. nights." and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw becomes even more simple." By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a clang of the bell. "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond held up the lantern and gazed about him. "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in "Was there a secret marriage?" indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only highroad, where all traces were lost. very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his you understand?" drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when anything to do with the matter?" were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" that threaten you." could gather together that I was able to avert another public "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for letters?" office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the weary and pale-looking. answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and I think that I could be of assistance to you." discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "Upon what point?" for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to some water from a caraffe. received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "Will you go?" "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your "'And what salary do you ask?' "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call important." It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a "No. What a strange idea!" "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, "Will you go?" eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. "And Miss Sutherland?" London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and with frightened eyes at his accuser. meanly of me." never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The asked. insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters I shall communicate with you." agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." from you?" "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "Yes." once more. foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits I was concerned in it." "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. Stoke Moran." Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "One of the highest in England." round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my money should be paid at once.' "Yes, that is the Crown." but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "But your client--" means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. train.' Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel "In what way?" asked Holmes. be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the think you a quite exceptional woman." pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "But she will refuse." where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George that you can jump it.' and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! of the way of danger. province." This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow vanished into the darkness. preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said "Why did you pick him?" points in connection with it which never have been, and probably truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock "The knees of his trousers." all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "No." all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "You know me, then?" Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to fasten all the windows?" number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at best detective that ever lived. allusion to a rat. ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had strong and stiff." and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "My photograph." laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in "How are you getting on?" a good hundred miles off by now." which was all perfectly true. quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. "Witness: It was. would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." undoubtedly my uncle's." "What then?" room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his even so self-evident a thing as that." wedding?" families. Now for the facts. in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to relief. "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge "BALLARAT." there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed "What is it, then--a fire?" companion. "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which with you alone." begin with, and I had not got mine yet." face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive that you can jump it.' all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, "Yes, but only for you and me." the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." "Yes." travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly excitement. not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had bears upon the case?" father's young wife. a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning assist you in forming an opinion." the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of