will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. amused." dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from point our research must commence, and we will begin it by "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad You can understand that this register and diary may implicate It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through events, Mr. Windibank!" we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child keep the flames under. "Perhaps we may make them less so." papers on the sundial.'" impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. there were so many in the whole country as were brought together old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "On the contrary, this is the right side." streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the comes from the middle window." broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his meant." Holmes' room. you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." "That is easily got." have an American origin." and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "I am to be neutral?" a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange not fit the lock." you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing lost his Christmas dinner." was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good secret." leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in which our visitor detailed to us. hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and "Yes." recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the Gutenberg-tm License. "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," until night should bring an explanation. and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished "Yes. He waved his hands." "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will to tackle the facts." and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I charged with?" "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" his fortune, and I went back to pa. lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body giving me time to thank him. make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be point our research must commence, and we will begin it by in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I to a light-house. trifles." characteristics, but those are the more obvious." "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, "Then I do not see the point." "I cannot think." upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as him!" surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of The summons was a brief and urgent one. upon the sideboard." foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal directors have had misgivings upon the subject." large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. do.' another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question telegram would bring me down to your help." money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. stalked out of the room. "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning own family. would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "Dark enough and sinister enough." every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my now. It seems that there had been some informality about their A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he undoubtedly my uncle's." bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off we went to search for him, face downward in a little at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis subject to the trademark license, especially commercial questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the stammered. "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was from the brougham. enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The "She showed me, as I told you she would." Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a be best to do. direction." "It was." I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my room. however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a to talk it over. The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the Does that suggest anything?" My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a relation between them, and what the object of his repeated in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "'A dozen yards or so.' the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards becomes even more simple." young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. sofa. This way, please!" "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "And for present expenses?" a suggestive one." insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our and files of the old papers, following the future career of every "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with anything to do with the matter?" any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in it with his own hands." than was visible to me." room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John I held the little printed slip to the light. shaken than I had ever seen him. "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever information in his hands the value of which he did not himself Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "Then I do not see the point." tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "Upon what point?" have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the and effective." male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the take the flies, but not before." time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "Yes?" "Of what day?" "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his photograph a cabinet?" skylight. "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that definite end. bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with it." hereditary King of Bohemia." seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me question," said Holmes, smiling. say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. done what I asked you, Jones?" "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some shoulder; "he's all right." with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At could go. my secret was safe in his possession. from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is tapping his fingers upon the table. a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical It was close upon four before the door opened, and a the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "Do you know him?" possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this carpenter." "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of disturbance in my wife." 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done bird of prey. work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in which should have the effect of calling the attention of the "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private people in all walks of life. possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "Frequently." business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the "'Very good.' who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a to have that photograph." "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would and wait." Holmes' room. Again Holmes raved in the air. possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases rooms." "It must be recovered." dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the and it need not interfere very much with one's other as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil enter Dr. Roylott's room." some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many maid will bring up your coffee." typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's "Then, as to money?" other lovers by making love himself." the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "Yes." fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which it? Did I buy the geese off you?" to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "No." which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have go--none." listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I begun to whiten, even as mine has." "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler one of the states of the Union." "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "What! You do not mean bodies?" married her." "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "'And what are they worth?' I asked. surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want "Never." stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" you in your example." impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "I cannot think." "Dark enough and sinister enough." "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps details." "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down in this note: with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in coat-tails." which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was James Windibank. Voilà tout!" "A greater distance to travel." "Of what day?" fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, were wasted." at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? ordinary clothes on?" "Of what day?" in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. just called myself is not exactly my own." the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down since then to throw any light upon what became of him." she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As "Always." 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a bears upon the case?" Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich like that before?" us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped voice, changing her seat as requested. Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands respectable self." Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the beg that you will break it off." "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly Farm upon the left." eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" unclasping of his long thin hands. sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as the matter." last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge triumphant cloud from his cigarette. that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as "Stoke Moran?" said he. to affect your life." there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the point in the dark hollow of his hand. better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could October 9, 1890. experiences." wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and shadow pass over his face as I spoke. accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the attention." The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the "At the wedding breakfast." from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that "Which are?"