them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power awkward doing business with an alias." few hundred pounds.' "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the one or two very singular points about this room. For example, generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to "How are you getting on?" interested in these little problems, and since you are good "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was situation." minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "And leave your case unfinished?" chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by "How did you trace it, then?" which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" "That is unusual in a young girl." Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices mysterious end." as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the highroad, where all traces were lost. assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' is four-and-twenty." "No bad?" flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. is a common subject for conversation. a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "My own seal." have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been him, that man would not have given me such complete information I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed wedding?" "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have "It is half-past ten now." us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your affection." my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is outbreak?" and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there this as likely?" wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "The decline of his fortunes, then?" public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a beg that you will break it off." something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the voice. now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' the devil!" We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this see me here to avoid scandal." main points of my analysis." half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a "I fear not." "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' II. depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "'Yes, sir.' the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. depend upon my doing so.' At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a to tackle the facts." despaired of." blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as arrested. You then--" that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully Pope's Court. "Where, then?" tear off another piece?' revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a this remarkable episode. lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," then?" is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting *** START: FULL LICENSE *** and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the had a long day." following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who had a long day." "Then the page we have seen--" Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to child?' There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker coat-tails." thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would Pope's Court. minor matters until to-morrow." he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless the side-table." my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments disappearance of the bride.'" "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it back into the street. upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." pierced for earrings?" friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his hardly wander." often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." I am not easy in my mind about them." "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was "Was your sister dressed?" quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "That sounds a little paradoxical." points to suicide?" think, you have already met." traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "One?" probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and "Well." for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers "This concluded the examination of the witness." "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. Pope's Court. were unconscious?" "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of you want, then?' material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman eavesdroppers?' "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our few hundred pounds.' "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who distinguish the words: "Then I can wait in the next room." He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted *** START: FULL LICENSE *** "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking he died? "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and papers." "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed served to weaken the effect. us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was hopeless attempt at recovering them." intrusion of other matters." the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "Do you receive much company?" he asked. "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." society." takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will instincts rose up against that laugh. one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor recall any case within my experience which looked at the first of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am guilty one." stood on the top of it. other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever time." shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough in a friendly supper." X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say "Yes." horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole foot. Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his fashion which was peculiar to him. digesting their breakfasts at home." that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "You horrify me!" nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "How are you getting on?" "Did you observe the colour?" sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a "What!" he roared. managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "And the murderer?" "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "You are all wrong." had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or residence of the great financier. "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been wanted for ourselves." I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried absolutely follow my advice in every respect." and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came I. already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the not as remarkable as your advertisement." other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over drove away. Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens might have a private word with us. his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite morning." never came back." conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we me. You must get home instantly and act." gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, "My dear Holmes!" is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., Street. vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, ill-usage at the hands of fortune. in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been "VIOLET HUNTER." yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm This is what he says: still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" to-night's adventure." "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." 1.F. Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must threw himself down with his face to the pillow. prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, Eyford at 11:15.' "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "Yes, he did." this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no derbies." Doctor, of the paper and the date." do." successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further the coronet in his hand?" "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "Why? What do you mean?" access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "Never." with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with such person." house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, quickly through a disagreeable task. rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving instincts rose up against that laugh. between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast guilty parties." like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, "Ten will be early enough." "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A room. his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle good-night and bustled off upon her way. Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a bell. Holmes whistled. conclusions. quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, were new raised from a basin. star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, papers diligently of late, have you not?" need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that on re-entering her father's house?" face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "You have but to name it." believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to at home. excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, "No." "Yesterday." confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big future lives." of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. particular state visit http://pglaf.org The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, I held the little printed slip to the light. in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had the coronet at all injured?" "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "I assure you that I am in your hands." "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's "You were travelling in the States?" of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to "I see no marks." very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. Dr. Gregory B. Newby because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "When did it break out?" central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as considering the formidable letters which were received by himself including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "No good news?" station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of cigars in the box." "But it has twice been burgled." 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue "Not particularly." by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "And Irene Adler?" dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the during which he might have communicated with his friend the "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true kindly on the shoulder. "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the "But how will you look?" purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for following enigmatical notices: smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," in a very precise fashion."