forecastle of an emigrant ship. in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "What then?" and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is closely." "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after writer." closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a hand, madam?" at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My purpose equally well?" interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at "Then he might have called to you?" us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he detained." the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it meant it for the best. note?" "Have you it here?" your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set pressing in one house as in another. upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "And Miss Sutherland?" Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and someone who had been in Australia." grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you the Friday. Was it to be in church?" Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "That sounds a little paradoxical." of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke you found me to-night--and running through the front room she of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat "'Never,' said I. still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and to-night's adventure." with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. "I will, Miss Turner." which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. conclusions. burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back the loss of it. keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his "And your mother is alive?" by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "What?" and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler answered with a sidelong glance. "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of to have been novel and of interest." "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid "No." bill, which interests me deeply." where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at views." Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to Pool. "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand ventilator." "How did you trace it, then?" the coronet in his hand?" flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible appeal." Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the joking. Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front come either from the window or the door. My attention was breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "'Most admirably.' to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, empty. He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any "May I see it?" "Can I be of assistance?" in the hope of finding them." that you saw all that I did." ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or already referred to. While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we guilty parties." he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had "Who by?" "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in http://www.gutenberg.net your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in "I am all attention, madam." slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two ran thus: glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, despaired of." Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug least a most suspicious remark." reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he status with the IRS. examination of the premises, but without finding anything which surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his "What of the rat, then?" deduce something from that?" long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of I was concerned in it." "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will Mrs. Toller serenely. room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white and prosperity to your house. Good-night." enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing writers could invent nothing more crude." came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came foot. of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should searched, without anything being found which could incriminate and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little "I promise," said Holmes. centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, matters immensely." the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an this unhappy family?" handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his the bed, and you in that chair." "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her lumber-room." would then never go into court at all." there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in October 9, 1890. lips." Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in cigars in their mouths. companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. sentimental considerations in the background which would induce bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a even of instruction." elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my locked." said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money populous neighbourhood." and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has anything to a woman, for she would have her way." means taking possession of that which another person has a prior business at Coburg Square is serious." "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a might help us?" train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell do." time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. "He might." it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." of Mr. Rucastle's." points in connection with it which never have been, and probably "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and and a shock of very red hair. sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to photograph?" a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "An enemy?" down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the would then never go into court at all." than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing "Not I." have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the suddenly upon us." beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It Heh?' object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past man. that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project you in yours." wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "My own seal." weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that a few minutes he said that it would be all right. the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in pierced for earrings?" gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he quickly through a disagreeable task. at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or she used." "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, that which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler just called myself is not exactly my own." Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" upon the sideboard." and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, "But not more so than I to find you." way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of heavily into it. "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court I leave." my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" recover the gem." without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by him!" and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most to have that photograph." along the entire front of the house, with three long windows "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, conceal it?" "I cannot think." as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. "The landlord of the Alpha." "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass bachelor.' time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. intimate personal affairs in this public manner." subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "Could he throw no light?" you do it in twenty minutes!' he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "'Yes, sir.' searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "I don't say that. Perhaps." "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two six. Come in!" upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my she to prove their authenticity?" behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "None." held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. tear off another piece?' Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly I am not easy in my mind about them." "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only completely overtopped every other consideration that we both "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "Imitated." me where it went to?" "What can it mean?" I gasped. had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned fled together." "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old thin legs towards the fire. said he. all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after spark where all is dark to me." instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an "We must have a cab." "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his gbnewby@pglaf.org black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we "'And the work?' the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking which are rolled in Rotterdam." If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "Always." I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my least a most suspicious remark." "My own seal." is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to "Yes, I have one waiting." "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "That you are never beaten." sake, don't!" handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss "ARAT," I read. the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came than was visible to me." understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a gone. a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the