his fortune, and I went back to pa. me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through hereditary King of Bohemia." had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the Doctor, of the paper and the date." back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I them?" "Never." to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that his forehead." bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the "So I heard. You have him here?" "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." walking." "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land have got?" hands. "No more words. Get out!" on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until guilty parties." the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "May I see it?" hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "And did you observe any change in her then?" hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the intimate personal affairs in this public manner." nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage "Yes." the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. of the one which your family is now devouring." without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge "And what then?" to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." gbnewby@pglaf.org conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really bill, which interests me deeply." object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she have I gained?" blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and out." fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you girl said." "It came here." call the police, let the police find what they can.' read over the extraordinary announcement. "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden "Yes, he did." "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out shadow pass over his face as I spoke. the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. "Where did he live, then?" "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, only touch the interest." my friend's incisive reasoning. pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." "How often?" charged with?" "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind "May I see it?" "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "But what harm can there be in that?" watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I head. So long, then!" Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest someone who had been in Australia." prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it "Which surely he restored to their owner?" not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. guilty parties." "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the you give your casting vote to?" go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may sound at heart." my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more salesman. his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the "Entirely." admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect there!' With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the "'What, the red-headed man?' any." know what is wrong with it.' Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in now. It seems that there had been some informality about their boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body digesting their breakfasts at home." "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we shadow pass over his face as I spoke. had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "You think that he is dead?" "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you the very morning of the wedding." and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent "On your arm?" starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his like that before?" "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you know all about it," he snarled. let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the is now desirous of getting those letters back." severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I "Did he not advertise?" the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' "Where, then?" "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. she has been waylaid. There has been no result." your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the cigars in the box." Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary "Witness: I must still refuse. "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking call you and give you the chance." and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a already been minutely examined." presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." "The knees of his trousers." "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still absolutely follow my advice in every respect." back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which the general public were present, then?" "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in will not take me long to tell. did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm purpose of examination. her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never vault. so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were "Yes." threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, tension within him. with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you wanted for ourselves." company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "You forget that I know nothing about it." this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face sparkled upon his finger. prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy the loss of it. brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass subject to the trademark license, especially commercial "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four of the way of danger. it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out next day. "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to in him." after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project "And help." "I should like to see him very much." heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens "Very much so." over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to whole matter to your consideration." I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a "'There is a drive, then?' window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as "You forget that I know nothing about it." He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in started for the Temple to see my husband. half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, indeed which he could not unravel. "Yes." springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the the station." "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant disappearance of the bride.'" peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very one which it was hard to resist. my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a indeed which he could not unravel. product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "Will you go?" "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the points to suicide?" assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in "And did you observe any change in her then?" vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. photograph?" "'You doubt its value?' he asked. few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "Why, what do you mean?" has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from neither fascinating nor artistic." "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "Certainly." had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our down in his armchair and closing his eyes. received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could at my own good fortune. Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a brought there to personate someone, and the real person is "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. key turn in the lock." "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must a good hundred miles off by now." rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the "Where, indeed?" roused himself from his reverie. the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "I think that it is very probable." How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the "It missed him, then?" "'Entirely.' red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave outsides of the windows. yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you easy-going way." "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is "Your French gold?" by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair other means.' really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle night.' said he. charged with?" His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "Then I can wait in the next room." might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a of the way of danger. kindly on the shoulder. very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. "If I can be of use." "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort "From his hat?" four million human beings all jostling each other within the constraint." naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the ordinary clothes on?" cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have clang of the bell. "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be morning." ready to-morrow?' an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing "I answered that I had not. the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. burst out into a roar of laughter. a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a