called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely all?" Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and "Yes, it would be as well." "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "Where to?" know that the truth is known." fashion which was peculiar to him. mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "'Tell me all about it,' said I. "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have felt the room to be a little close.' of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no point our research must commence, and we will begin it by then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. depend upon your compliance." "So I am. Very much so." Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and to affect your life." electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced threw himself down with his face to the pillow. twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the exactly what you advise." "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he tied." tied." "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the pound a week." congenial hunt. "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall her also." Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, "And that is--" attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. the child." man. His smile broadened. "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "Texas, I think." quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the this truth that in these little records of our cases which you Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now appointment with me for six o'clock?" the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "I don't believe it." parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper to where he stood hid behind the curtain. was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined "And leave your case unfinished?" "Pray do so." "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were "Then, how do you know?" "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." even so self-evident a thing as that." just called myself is not exactly my own." He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you My friend smiled. "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," there!' the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty the devil!" "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." bonnet, and went out." "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own green of the new foliage. "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where feature." 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in them?" "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said "I answered that I had not. unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of "No." "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or call you and give you the chance." 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down peculiar to him. anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. down. certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a "Dr. Becher's." union?" "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, humiliation." Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for "That also I could fathom." sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought "Not him." What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? arrangements." sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission "'What would be the hours?' I asked. did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "Yes, at the mines." case-book, which he consulted. Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "Very murderous indeed." mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no and prosperity to your house. Good-night." been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or if she died from some sudden fright." list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' himself. he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the burst out into a roar of laughter. lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "That is unusual in a young girl." could gather together that I was able to avert another public "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would "On Monday." they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the to-night?' and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, "'Never,' said I. between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "I know where it is." of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "What! You do not mean bodies?" "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the "My private note-paper." "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "We were both in the photograph." collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just she has been waylaid. There has been no result." and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, "'Where could I find him?' "Perhaps I have." Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "And your father? Did you tell him?" lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on "My opinion is in no way altered." places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect papers diligently of late, have you not?" in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution gone. have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, an introduction to him?" way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal not come at once?" "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, I think that I could be of assistance to you." into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in past. might have a private word with us. aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "When did she vanish, then?" overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth there in twenty minutes." "You will not go there first?" bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' we went to search for him, face downward in a little "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An "My dear Holmes!" think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and main points of my analysis." horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An along the entire front of the house, with three long windows "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence presented more singular features than that which was associated we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "In heaven's name, what for?" "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his should be so warm over such a trifle." then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." "To ruin me." "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue me what he had done with the three missing stones. "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as it were putty." Sutherland?" help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or one or two very singular points about this room. For example, orange pips. in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already them?" husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' individual and becomes the badge of a society." Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm crime." Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who he died? walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too "What do you make of that, Watson?" Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be not fit the lock." "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. "Yes, certainly." Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a perplexity from it to my illustrious client. out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in you in your example." firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a cup of tea. the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of IS appointment with me for six o'clock?" be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. "10th. John Swain cleared. disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his had picked up in the wood. insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. dear old homesteads?" compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? charge against him will break down." plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." and I shall be with you presently." "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in never will be, entirely cleared up. receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving "Yes." call for protection in the marriage market, for the present Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the "And how?" roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "Where is it, then?" for its centre. "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the was used.' Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is me what he had done with the three missing stones. the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "In the cells." charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his chance at all." off." want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden Henry Baker is a member." was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though "But what will you do?" placed his cuttings. have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, seem to you to be relevant or not." everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, "'I have already given you my word.' season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs were unconscious?" friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the friends, not even his own brother. with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." "'I have heard so.' ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it prison!" "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly Eyford." to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "Where, indeed?" goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the knowledge of the world." hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, "Why did you beat the pavement?" provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a Sholtos." for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." "The doctor?" Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and gone. can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the all that?" whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots