great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came highly," said Holmes. give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent asked. upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to not, dad?" she asked. "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "It goes to the housekeeper's room." your own bird, so if you wish--" "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who "And I." creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. front of me. suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent window when the police appeared." were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm is so. I know all about McCarthy." "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and knowledge of the world." have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him companion. you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with train from Paddington which would bring you there at about the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money good for you to do.' "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. "I answered that I had not. hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left "But not more so than I to find you." it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall door?" bed dies. Does not that strike you?" perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take if I call to-morrow?" the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then "Then, how do you know?" I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is conversation I have gathered that they have been married about friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just chemical work which was so dear to him. and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before waste of energy." we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to other, as fresh and trim as possible. diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, humiliation." equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt been anything against him. He had for years been known as a my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "But she will refuse." "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this what do you think they found in the pockets?" use an arc-and-compass breastpin." which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. redistribution. copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. society." "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon him." passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "And who is her maid?" Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. noting anything else of interest. "My own seal." my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face events, Mr. Windibank!" nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning McCarthy." There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you happened." simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have mystery!" about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the fasten all the windows?" a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "At half-wages, in fact." inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not My friend smiled. married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend you understand?" come either from the window or the door. My attention was miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me were wasted." sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my "No. What a strange idea!" "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were in the port of London." "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had ashen face. purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high instituted." to-night." lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, "Look there!" said he. "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "My opinion is in no way altered." even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a "And now?" He raised his hand. disturbance in my wife." blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." that I may have something better before very many minutes are her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" absorbing." served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible less than 26s. 4d. his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for You can understand that this register and diary may implicate unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. there is a decided draught." take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that know that the truth is known." "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "Never to return." bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "And who is her maid?" cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut Project Gutenberg-tm works. I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to "Yes." for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to entirely lost his self-respect." dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the "The murder was done with it." eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right little trying to do so much typewriting?" address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to "Of what day?" Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled "'Certainly not. But why?' "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you "No." "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, you." this as likely?" contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was "You are certainly joking, Holmes." "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, third from London." though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and "A client, then?" "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy placed his cuttings. specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of that threaten you." away into the river." clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There "To the police?" of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from he. know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time "It is his hat." eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back call it cruel." I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour "Here?" business came to an end." secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for "I am in hopes that she does." even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the "'Yes, it was gone.' heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I crowd. found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "That is possible." "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. Young McCarthy must be got off, however." had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which back alive. pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure deduce something from that?" the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one mystery!" strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked matter over." "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" conclusions. the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the will take you up to see the machine.' "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day writers could invent nothing more crude." young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the villagers almost as much as their master. "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; handed it to him. style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the locked. that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my ordinary clothes on?" bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "It is possible." our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "No, but the enclosure is." "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, hardly wander." the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were Sutherland?" whereabouts. cheerful." red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "I am sure." he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and which are rolled in Rotterdam." "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" "Get out!" said he. "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man business matters.' threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you know what is wrong with it.' "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of London for the present?" possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "To the police?" "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" is so. I know all about McCarthy." been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no his knees, staring into the fire. three fields round his house, and there he would take his England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of which we had just quitted. see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, likely to be some crony of the landlady's." "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and of Mr. Rucastle's." fashion which was peculiar to him. The events in question occurred in the early days of my surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, what these perils are?" the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in "She will not sell." "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One eavesdroppers?' "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. manager. loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed look upon these things in a different way." "It was an hour's good drive." the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have vague figure huddled up in the darkness. "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "From his hat?" On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the one or two very singular points about this room. For example, "He might." them?" resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" are windows in it, of course?" implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his "The Coroner: What do you mean? appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of becomes even more simple." but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "And who is her maid?" called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding house for five minutes.' it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the could not have written that. It is the German who is so "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for sooner or later she must fall a victim. interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "You think that he is dead?" justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the "I will get her to show me." of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit thought that she would have been so carried away." his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now triumphant cloud from his cigarette. blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at do you make of it all?" sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "What can it mean?" I gasped. England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the occurred." "Precisely." society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be face and glided from the room. License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "I am still in the dark." help us in this matter." "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear The note was undated, and without either signature or address. relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door