hurried by. "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and fashion which was peculiar to him. Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "Could he throw no light?" appeared upon the scene." to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest wanted for ourselves." see a sister of mine apply for." "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "It is his hat." from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have your only hope of safety." Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "He disappeared so suddenly." would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole not come at once?" was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, "And what then?" out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project bachelor.' dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in public press." "You think so, too?" "No good news?" this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which keep the flames under. He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to him. "Where to?" round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." should be so warm over such a trifle." advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, woman who has had her own way to make in the world. at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my was not a bird to be seen there. he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. promised to bring home. "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your present." instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my been lifted and conveyed somewhere." we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her long narrative. compunction about shooting them down." the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the "That is unusual in a young girl." my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for habit of advancing money.' silent! Oh, he will be silent!' his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are relief. and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than here." "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my point in the dark hollow of his hand. Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you it." the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." retorted upon me, and I on you." succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and this man was intellectual?" waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an at my remark. even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "I have a cab outside." of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. Eyford." 1.F. begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not murdered man." "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." Pope's Court, Fleet Street." I shall continue with my miserable story. "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." upon the shelf for the interim." smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. "'Never,' said I. "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, "I cannot tell." my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional triumphant cloud from his cigarette. drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug their singular warning or token before them when starting upon people in all walks of life. intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. outsides of the windows. fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "No legal papers or certificates?" strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "'Entirely.' walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez your sleep?' connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" bed dies. Does not that strike you?" pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg eat it." never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll what do you think they found in the pockets?" touch that coronet?' in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone appeal." avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own of Mr. Rucastle's." peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much comes from the middle window." closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close cigar and let me expound." "None. Neville wrote those words." "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. acquaintance?" a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." shag which I had seen upon the previous night. his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "'Ample.' ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when lips." however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by standing smiling on the door-step. "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was "Why did you beat the pavement?" to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "What will you do, then?" anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a the iron safe, which he closed upon it. enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "What shall I do?" study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his may have an influence upon European history." "'What are you doing there?' he asked. deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our fasten all the windows?" than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive never came back." discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt Dr. Gregory B. Newby end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." "One of the highest in England." thirty. test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an back alive. "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "What do you make of that, Watson?" have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the soul! here is her carriage at the door." Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." them?" Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular observed. the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently McCarthy's innocence. time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by south, for the country is more deserted there." which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "No, distinctly professional." "Where did he live, then?" banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "I will get her to show me." "But not more so than I to find you." had died away into the silence from which it rose. wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and morning." "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons Edgeware Road. by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. "'Is purely nominal.' mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was directors have had misgivings upon the subject." orange pips. "One of his hands." transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but and looked back. "Witness: It was. posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, read over the extraordinary announcement. "Where, indeed?" A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she "'And the work?' Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love fatally injured? garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the "Of Friday, June 19th." Munro.' overpowering excitement and concern. Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" disturbance in my wife." farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had the matter." light and attacked it." chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have are, and they are waiting for us." flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and fled together." "And who is her maid?" through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus or other trace. But how on earth--" scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper daring than any effort of the imagination." "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. such attractions and accomplishments?' long narrative. I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, might help us?" "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to make me his representative both with the servants and with the to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently my former friend and companion. of Mr. Rucastle's." collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my "In San Francisco, a year ago." "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "It looks newer than the other things?" waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "I shall be delighted." following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "At the wedding breakfast." out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of do.' thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be one of the states of the Union." "And how did you find out?" was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes tell him that I know him to be innocent." "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I begun to whiten, even as mine has." him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom be there in time for your coming." "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess were wasted." of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this "And now?" I asked. believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "Your presence might be invaluable." The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs I. the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I a very grave face. half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he rat could hardly pass through." had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has shall not find me ungrateful." "Very much so." "Indeed! Whose, then?" they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for "But I have heard all that you have heard." told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "No, finished." least a fellow-countryman. foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement disturbance in my wife." King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them head. So long, then!" "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "Well, but China?" one which it was hard to resist. been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. "'Yes, it was gone.' one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who