she used." in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get 'please.'" and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "Really! You surprise me." very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than "Why serious?" between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your "Her father is very rich?" "You horrify me!" begun to whiten, even as mine has." inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" with some details as to your case." stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." friend's singular character. "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were Holmes. "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' "'No, I know no one in these parts.' before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I the Friday. Was it to be in church?" bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." relief. "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel "I was afraid that you were engaged." "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "The landlord of the Alpha." desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as stepfather?" bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" one's self under obligations.' said Mr. Holder. had no one to advise her at such a crisis." within hail.' answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. way in everything. certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. country, and eventually married, without anyone having a rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he how narrow had been my escape. shall use the carriage to-night." anything to a woman, for she would have her way." call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little married her." own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "It is half-past ten now." Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in sofa. This way, please!" which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "It certainly sounds feasible." "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's "The murder was done with it." the house with me." seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." "The rest you will leave in our hands." do you make of it all?" permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. there!' "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able and capable of preserving a secret.' have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "Has he come with you to-night?" c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It "I shall be delighted." so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found "That you are never beaten." very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, such attractions and accomplishments?' fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully "And your mother is alive?" started for the Temple to see my husband. dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "You horrify me!" own family. about. has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on chamber." "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, mysterious end." Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and Project Gutenberg-tm works. "Yes, certainly." certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But "Yes." "Yes." fashion which was peculiar to him. in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they nonsense.' and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what relief. "It is possible." abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock country, and eventually married, without anyone having a "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing congenial hunt. were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "By train from Waterloo." and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of since then to throw any light upon what became of him." four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, look dissatisfied." to go into your room and bar your shutters?" burst into a hearty fit of laughter. weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "I am following you closely," I answered. thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "Holmes, the busybody!" Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard Cross for the Continent." interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "Well, some hundreds of times." scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his http://www.gutenberg.net when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps digesting their breakfasts at home." the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have and a shock of very red hair. "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. definite end. and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it writing, and yet I know it well." his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" "What is it?" gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that "My photograph." finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, fish-monger and a tide-waiter." "It must be recovered." before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three again, where I was soon asleep. pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His straightened it out again. It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a hurried away. "In heaven's name, what for?" out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money been deceived." nothing with him." the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. mystery." "Her father is very rich?" lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham during the last few years, and there are many noble families to not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." appeared upon the scene." Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't "'Ten to two.' anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the your Highness to the police-station?" nothing of it?" "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, delirious. "Whose house is it?" only touch the interest." "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I copied or distributed: unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, never came back." Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a "No." address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and chance." all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that some place of shelter and let the county police know what has "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to the coroner come to?" entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you appeal." 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle Clair, of Lee." compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me "I do." yards of it?' coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of be. are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat the devil!" waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a exactly what you advise." "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in was used.' upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies tear off another piece?' free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "'Quite sure, dad.' "She told me to ask you." line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "Dr. Becher's." "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking the night.' "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in "And the murderer?" "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said "'Is purely nominal.' I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been redistribution. Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "There is the writing." "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." Literary Archive Foundation house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is lumber-room." recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" writers could invent nothing more crude." providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance "Very murderous indeed." returning from some small jollification and was making his way "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see and capable of preserving a secret.' "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out "And what did you learn from him?" danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom trying to your nerves." narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with fled together." and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident children over to America with him, so that I found myself without "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "I don't believe it." had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be did not hear it also.' "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "He said that you could solve anything." is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of here." it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been excitement. morning." matter." and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no felt?" vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham "I should wish to." sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that "Married! When?" man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical whether it answered to the description of any of their thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you three fields round his house, and there he would take his "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather you came in." out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora husband's writing, madam." mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, Cross for the Continent." empty. might help us?" determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for crime." delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The at home. didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "Pray tell us what has happened to you." of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in