"And why?" the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. straighten it?" object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the money should be paid at once.' of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some "Certainly." "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the "No. What a strange idea!" the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, to some other building. exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord to you." room had already been engaged for us. up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry there!' red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "Why did you pick him?" window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and everything which you would wish to know." the Red-headed League." labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, instincts rose up against that laugh. could not have written that. It is the German who is so be sorry for having acted so harshly." And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "Never." ventilator." out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "That you are never beaten." The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "Never." - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the "Yes, I have one waiting." and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the knowledge of the world." disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "Nothing?" copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the father's place of business?" "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. key turn in the lock." "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we whatever might befall. shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the "Seven!" I answered. it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly was it brought him the coronet? asked. "I will do it." "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a that there was nothing in it, after all." my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you a few minutes he said that it would be all right. after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "Then what has happened to him?" half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned perplexity from it to my illustrious client. do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp instincts rose up against that laugh. the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your already referred to. behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious friends, not even his own brother. Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such "Do you receive much company?" he asked. off." "Always." my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his of his shoulders. heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." his huge brown hands. Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, not come at once?" heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed Young McCarthy must be got off, however." the King without delay." cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of "Did he not advertise?" up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and village inn over there?" word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in do." Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting cigars in the box." obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" extraordinary contortions. "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be "His face fell immediately. case before our client came into the room." "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. locked. sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or back into the street. "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to imbecility!" he cried. served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." "None." "Yes. He waved his hands." whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was "But what harm can there be in that?" overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable always that they were such commands as a lady might with writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name What do you deduce from it?" There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "If I can be of use." Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its "You will not go there first?" collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, business." inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His matter." "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "No. His orders were to stay in the house." fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my bearing upon the case." back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it yet." the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in "Not in the least." was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "Game for a morning drive?" window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and "I think that it is very probable." 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived there is a decided draught." rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. "By no means." "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged "It certainly sounds feasible." stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even "Can I be of assistance?" his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the cigars in the box." front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the of the one which your family is now devouring." answer." from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an This is what he says: "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue "BALLARAT." for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "'Certainly,' I answered. "It is true that I have been generally successful." vault. throat." even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the "I beg pardon." death." "That's no good." is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A bird of prey. "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. "The Coroner: What do you mean? "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't one else, I think." end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" ashen face. "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard "Have you her photograph?" everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a "She told me to ask you." "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch strength in the others." "Murdered?" let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman article?" indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." disturbance in my wife." drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the wall." invisible to me," I remarked. "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she this remarkable episode. untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "Precisely." "I am to be neutral?" other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious "'Most admirably.' permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, to talk it over. however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of you." "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography page at http://pglaf.org leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, was already answered. us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual must compliment you." "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his of the efforts of the United States government and of the better and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian "I think it very unlikely." had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was too. three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was will take you up to see the machine.' "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "What office?" met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that sufficient punishment." "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you "Awake, Watson?" he asked. she might be summoned. Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my light and attacked it." "But you would not advise me to refuse?" My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, "And why in hopes?" "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all "To the police?" "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your "'Very good.' helping a boy to put up the shutters. "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the "Yes." past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to had this final quarrel? fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I very morning of my second wedding." acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is "BALLARAT." going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would such attractions and accomplishments?' "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town "Was he the only applicant?" and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," his forehead." 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "We must sit without light. He would see it through the wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away the inquest, and which are worth considering." affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know the date of his supposed suicide." "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" the best of training." photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I his fortune, and I went back to pa. breakfast?" step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the anything to do with the matter?" thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an photograph a cabinet?" over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed