Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of sound at heart." was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the Project Gutenberg-tm works. very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a "I should like to see him very much." "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow strange features which were associated with the two crimes which "Was your sister dressed?" Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the "The King of Scandinavia." prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, "I have come for advice." I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his Munro.' unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss could not have written that. It is the German who is so chill to my heart. "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see ran thus: furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, remarked. "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as to where he stood hid behind the curtain. he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you meanly of me." determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "But how did you gain them?" "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. evidence," I remarked. He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon next day. or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in do.' master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "Yes." multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" weary and pale-looking. the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my "You heard nothing yourself last night?" We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of hard-headed British jury." princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel that threaten you." moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing confronted him. There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If see me here to avoid scandal." the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and events than those which have happened in my own family." "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect "I am sure." "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was better grown goose." may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were sparkled upon his finger. sentimental considerations in the background which would induce the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in "I have hopes." more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. had no one to advise her at such a crisis." your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it simple cases which are so extremely difficult." once more to my work. police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in "In San Francisco, a year ago." which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the "How did you deduce the select?" in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? that he will be back before evening." and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round "Where, then?" it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but "Of what day?" "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the "It must be recovered." me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with the warnings." "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. "What, then, did Peterson do?" empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two troubles have been weighing upon his mind. centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their "Yes, he did." down from London to inquire more deeply into it." company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." disappearance of the bride.'" voice, changing her seat as requested. were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for you." Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive question," said Holmes, smiling. I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day good for you to do.' on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to trifles." "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high off." "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders strong reason behind." I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with existence." conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were trifles." and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the said he at last. daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable society." at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an "I beg pardon." is a common subject for conversation. so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right on in his house." learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as vanished into the darkness. "Will you bet, then?" which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his to a light-house. "9th. McCauley cleared. "And it is--" we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office it were putty." entirely devoid of interest." her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the morning." she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary as yours." across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up was lame." "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant "'Yes, sir.' husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as walking." those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were arms and began to sob in a high treble key. to Leatherhead. values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have "What of the rat, then?" window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again "It looks newer than the other things?" glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and the iron safe, which he closed upon it. never to learn it at all." whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must "10th. John Swain cleared. in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all wall." behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I the house with me." grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly For additional contact information: that he will be back before evening." "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "Witness: It was. many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns "Yes." Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." business in the City. She little knew what. "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, in the hope of finding them." "And I." after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an union?" footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done IS scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! and shall probably return to London by the evening train." quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his and laid it on the table. There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email gone. great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced round with crates and massive boxes. rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom conduct the inquiry." my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "'What then?' I asked. "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after brandy and water within his reach. diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to papers must be those that are destroyed.' with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," you." his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you roused himself from his reverie. "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and Street. I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, second window is the one that I jumped from." "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are she used." a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done to-night?" I asked. my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like he bowed and left the room without another word. week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon morning." calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away who was a member of your goose club." The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with careless servant girl?" there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "Game for a morning drive?" "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." very old mansion. coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and ill-usage at the hands of fortune. in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I both be extremely obliged.' "I would give my fortune to have them back." of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with yourselves in at night?" there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's other means.' that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; light and attacked it." was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that here." of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the name is different." "There is the writing." tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday Foundation diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "It may not come to that," said Holmes. "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I overpowering excitement and concern. been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do "Was there a secret marriage?" "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, crowd. it? Did I buy the geese off you?" his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the and no precautions can guard against." cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. The telegram which we eventually received came late one night "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." "A thing like a cleaver," said he. This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "Why, what do you mean?" one of them." absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I used to be." Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, "None." Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her or other trace. But how on earth--" Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, village inn over there?" even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "None." the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "Yes, sir." forehead. swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks could not have written that. It is the German who is so up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and house for five minutes.' paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the