"She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' spark where all is dark to me." "A client, then?" "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I "Then I do not see the point." "'Where to?' "Oh, yes, easily." go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is one of them." probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know miles off. provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "At half-wages, in fact." at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "You horrify me!" better grown goose." would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen business in the City. She little knew what. "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "The doctor?" are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the business came to an end." season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in strength in the others." "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm Pope's Court, Fleet Street." ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any "Now, then, what's the last entry?" "I came to find a friend." to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was unprecedented a position." undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to learned something! Where are the gems?" was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of point in the dark hollow of his hand. "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we situation." "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was six. Come in!" access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "And how in the world did you find them?" "Not particularly." signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "Yes, I have one waiting." Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see come either from the window or the door. My attention was He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the waste of energy." least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As "You think that he is dead?" when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." green of the new foliage. not personally threatened." "You horrify me!" pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" both be extremely obliged.' "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! round and wave him away like that.' "'Yes, sir.' back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I will take you up to see the machine.' clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite ceremony." "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress "Was your sister dressed?" The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "Yes, there are nearly always some there." fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one and inquire as to the address." the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck "One of his hands." somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be Henry Baker is a member." open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "What will you do, then?" he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my thirty. loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce late." you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for to that open window." out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "And I." "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to friends, not even his own brother. arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "I think that I had better go, Holmes." "I cannot imagine." and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which "Yes, from Horsham." instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who "Nothing." "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which correct than the official force." "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to "Pray let us have it, for all that." - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a before the coroner and the police-court." "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. "What will you do, then?" it? Did I buy the geese off you?" Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney key of the affair now." to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel shag which I had seen upon the previous night. "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master British peeress.'" There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet Leadenhall Street--and--" into the bag, and made for the door. very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of threw himself down with his face to the pillow. the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no clang of the bell. the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my giving me time to thank him. "And I to find an enemy." know that the truth is known." having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. good-night and bustled off upon her way. "Two days later this same performance was gone through under "Well, some hundreds of times." in. never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a security.' sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a "The doctor?" reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same been." order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He "'Stolen!' he cried. expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "Game for a morning drive?" ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, infinite languor in his face. young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage chemical work which was so dear to him. it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have "You will not go there first?" the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and delirious. soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. formed some opinion?" telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. "I shall most certainly do so." 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. of receipt of the work. of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body hereditary King of Bohemia." "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "What!" he roared. "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose the devil!" "Entirely." call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings "That is unusual in a young girl." "'Why that?' I asks. "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside "In answer to an advertisement." "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old you?' "Nothing?" other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, my former friend and companion. case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but not fit the lock." heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. to arrive at through this?" and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "It is solved." "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." mystery!" least a fellow-countryman. emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. villagers almost as much as their master. his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might During two years I have had three consultations and one small 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe "My photograph." "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. "Yes." manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found business in the City. She little knew what. "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. official police." his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. the Red-headed League." line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. not come at once?" "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The What do you deduce from it?" "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "You don't mind breaking the law?" wanted for ourselves." ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it "No, I am descending." here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know money should be paid at once.' and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. comes from the middle window." is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the disappearance of the bride.'" passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been begin with, and I had not got mine yet." burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, held up the lantern and gazed about him. "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if few hundred pounds.' opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project II. "An accident, I presume?" Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. "I have my revolver," said I. which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "I will, Miss Turner." few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he straightened it out again. array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you where Mr. Fordham shows you.' massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "Oh, fresh and glossy." deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the astonishment. why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to lips." "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers chambers. he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back any more." very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here "My private note-paper." what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And II. and have this put in the evening papers." "In the cells." "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him to have been novel and of interest." then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "Not in a good cause." central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I paper in the air. to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered The summons was a brief and urgent one. cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and "It is possible." "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how "I am still in the dark." "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to the room while you explain this matter?" wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached cause to be." Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most future lives."