"My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, for and were ordered to this address. and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. nothing with him." "Ten will be early enough." to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious "10th. John Swain cleared. even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than yards of it?' "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy "No, thank goodness, she did not." "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an photograph?" Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the murdered man." done what I asked you, Jones?" thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or him to go away.' There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much call you and give you the chance." admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been "He said that you could solve anything." it." dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "Very much so." said I. Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin "How do you know, then?" lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "But she will refuse." moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the had this final quarrel? If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no fait accompli?" 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "Could he throw no light?" family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from "You know me, then?" suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "But she will refuse." "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, not use it unless it is absolutely needed." the child." horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "I am armed." he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came with you?" for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and chance at all." vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I eavesdroppers?' "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge garden below. feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east you." sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and asked. "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. horse could go." the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its other lovers by making love himself." do you make of it all?" good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always "'Yes, I promise.' abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to his forehead." you." building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a "Here?" few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "Not him." some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the papers diligently of late, have you not?" already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. least a fellow-countryman. dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable throat." PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a long narrative. feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads "'I have heard so.' Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that comes from the middle window." criminal. We have already had experience of such." through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." man. IS even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily locked." PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about but preventing her from injuring another. blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham soul! here is her carriage at the door." with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his companion quietly. "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face business in the City. She little knew what. 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that you, my dear young lady?' vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. "In answer to an advertisement." take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I "I do." "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my whereabouts. "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been "Yes." The King stared at him in amazement. is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I points in connection with it which never have been, and probably like gravel from a pit.' Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my again on its way. be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but upon the shelf for the interim." never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "None." interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by distinguish the words: and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now I nodded to show that I had heard. into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties "The best possible." cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As "'What are you doing there?' he asked. nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now if she died from some sudden fright." comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging chemical work which was so dear to him. having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "What shall I do?" in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and "I fear not." fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I there was no need for father to know." locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal "Yes, there are nearly always some there." While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty helping a boy to put up the shutters. "'And what salary do you ask?' practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really "You did not overhear what they said?" "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for It was close upon four before the door opened, and a kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very hereditary King of Bohemia." considering the formidable letters which were received by himself weigh very heavily upon my conscience." "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his letters?" note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "'Never.' hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the "It's nothing of the kind." "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of morning." dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more the salesman. "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" "'What, the red-headed man?' pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. "Imitated." congratulate you again." home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that noting anything else of interest. him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than that you saw all that I did." indiscretion." in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. "Your sister is dead, then?" had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop leave you to your papers for a little." our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I "Was he the only applicant?" Munro.' instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my has little to do with my story." strode off upon his way. "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but helping a boy to put up the shutters. submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united started for the Temple to see my husband. "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small kind enough to tell me what I should do." thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. the bottom.' I shall continue with my miserable story. twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "But your client--" called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "'Certainly not.' shoulder; "he's all right." read it out to me." donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" "If I can be of use." side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" easy-going way." landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." the date of his supposed suicide." a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy It was close upon four before the door opened, and a many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. brought there to personate someone, and the real person is hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door Sholtos." bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" "And you can do nothing until then?" What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I feature." have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." my little problems." "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when "And what did you learn from him?" years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich at a side door. Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but business at Coburg Square is serious." my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "'Is purely nominal.' Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come might have a private word with us. asked. There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he amused." following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which "What then?" Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry "I was afraid that you were engaged." and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. nice household for a young lady." hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." "Oh, the cause is excellent!" thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that situation." "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less "Pray let us have it, for all that." stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and opportunities to fix the problem. "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was key of the affair now." clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided "How often?" his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, "'A dozen yards or so.' little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the copied or distributed: that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' "I don't believe it." upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would empty. course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed lost his Christmas dinner." instincts rose up against that laugh. Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk "And from a noble client?" directors have had misgivings upon the subject." boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to be sorry for having acted so harshly." frequently gained my first real insight into the character of without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I what do you think they found in the pockets?" of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. the bottom.' "Yes." in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or that the gas is not laid on in his house?" "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "Not him." "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two all-comprehensive glances. Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in "But she will refuse." allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such subject to the trademark license, especially commercial companion quietly. will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an some mystery and the punishment of some crime." There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' would apply.' could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass