planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked locked." during which he might have communicated with his friend the recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. John Swain, of St. Augustine. the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. be. rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are or other trace. But how on earth--" "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what yet." zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were and a shock of very red hair. was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and intrusion of other matters." fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a I shall continue with my miserable story. "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For not as remarkable as your advertisement." contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a companion. rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you "You have the photograph?" despair." while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A any more." comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold lost nothing by them." examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was The King stared at him in amazement. upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat and capable of preserving a secret.' "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that "You horrify me!" "Then I am your man." decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "No, I am descending." the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "They are typewritten," I remarked. expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a bare slabs of marble. "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of fashion which was peculiar to him. the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich his face. "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your residence of the great financier. he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared Cross for the Continent." lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds cup of tea. be sorry for having acted so harshly." were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a conduct the inquiry." manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "You have it, sir, just as it happened." all?" "10th. John Swain cleared. science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "I cannot think." so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He to-night's adventure." sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are "'There is a drive, then?' nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. me what he had done with the three missing stones. and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "Oh, yes, easily." "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small that he has suffered." "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to "That also I could fathom." Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the "You were travelling in the States?" hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my and files of the old papers, following the future career of every very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts woman who has had her own way to make in the world. road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent instituted." but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, happened." "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think new duties?' "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman charge against him will break down." equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His such person." again, where I was soon asleep. habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three strength in the others." smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the indeed which he could not unravel. cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled to take care of herself." cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the which are rolled in Rotterdam." force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his be best to do. It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, your room." "What then?" qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy shadow pass over his face as I spoke. from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the of your young ladies.' authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." McCarthy." blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his taking in every detail of the apartment. test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. lectures into a series of tales." "Pray tell us what has happened to you." in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire feature." the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I it right.' profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my flock.' Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project and shall probably return to London by the evening train." society." swore that no one else had been in the front room during the his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." go from here to the Strand." bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to "I am to be neutral?" "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." is," said he presently: them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. your room." attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but at home. side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case one of the states of the Union." Street. "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such experiences." village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the bill, which interests me deeply." through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack "Nothing." London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it tightly behind him. "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "Was he the only applicant?" allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never which our visitor detailed to us. old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was matter." into the bag, and made for the door. however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer have one." to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I past. have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the "It may not come to that," said Holmes. Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. cause to be." came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a easy-going way." then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. "The Coroner: What do you mean? "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been she might be summoned. business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and "Yes." "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California few hundred pounds.' Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have details should find their way into the papers. Inspector the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her purpose of examination. "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was good-night and bustled off upon her way. despaired of." which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any highroad, where all traces were lost. "About a month then." "It came here." humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, daring than any effort of the imagination." discontent upon his features. moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best maiden herself was most instructive." views." "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all pictures, libraries, or plate. "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may and all of them with the keenest interest. and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then friend's singular character. "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you situation." springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can distance from the station, and there we found the young lady street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was as he remarks, very much against the son." have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and conclusions. him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the drove away. an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a the date of his supposed suicide." When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the lumber-room." wedding?" "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." prepare for the new role I have to play." copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that Foundation chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. wedding?" confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or off." however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "And what did you learn from him?" never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship did not hear it also.' correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and I nodded again. was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had that he has suffered." "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. delirious. Stoke Moran." the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off bearing upon the case." his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. hereditary King of Bohemia." until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the in this note: "That sounds a little paradoxical." Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible yards of it?' I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his into the room. must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I British peeress.'" ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and during that time.' direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for woven round him. "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call him!" His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I unkempt, staring out at me. over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. crime." "I don't say that. Perhaps." He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my might have a private word with us. your sleep?' away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what if only as a check to my own memory." have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." "And Miss Sutherland?" Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that examine." "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition one or two very singular points about this room. For example, rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." "I never have."