Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I visitors." error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. him, that man would not have given me such complete information said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a "That is possible." I approached. "That is easily got." beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric not, dad?" she asked. "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for here." near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months is four-and-twenty." o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a plantation.' morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "Then how many are there?" "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing "The Cedars?" the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and Holmes' thin, eager face. and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the "'And what are they worth?' I asked. of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "'Yes, it was gone.' of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those do you make of it all?" "'Oh, no.' one or two very singular points about this room. For example, fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt "Stolen." his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the union?" The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he "In heaven's name, what for?" "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may conclusions. during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for indeed which he could not unravel. round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the guilty parties." "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my "How are you getting on?" chair. Count Von Kramm." grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; to arrive at through this?" veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "But you can know nothing of this?" makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. as yours." felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when advice." the address that was given us in the advertisement. "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is his grey eyes. bedroom door." coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. becomes even more simple." our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "'What then?' I asked. read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other conceal it?" My friend smiled. are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project "Breckinridge is his name." your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly "That is it on the dressing-table." considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I without a word or a look. fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, placed his cuttings. few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in seven miles from Eyford Station.' clanging. force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely empty. "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain "I cannot tell." have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, became a certainty. "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had as yours." dear old homesteads?" the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent so far?" mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you charged with?" information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official "It is very clear." considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began "It may not come to that," said Holmes. telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church "Murdered?" were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, to a light-house. "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my eavesdroppers?' to you." the dangers which encompass me." right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, "'Yes, sir.' was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of danger is over." "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business more terrible than the truth. weigh very heavily upon my conscience." thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it "Indeed! Whose, then?" eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been even so self-evident a thing as that." "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a key of the affair now." little trying to do so much typewriting?" upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, "Pray continue your narrative." tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that It may be so in this case, also." us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such "This photograph!" very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a tell him that I know him to be innocent." "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to call the police, let the police find what they can.' light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife ashen face. bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "She told me to ask you." fashion which was peculiar to him. beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's imbecility!" he cried. there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. stepfather?" "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he shall not find me ungrateful." "Thank you. And your address?" you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an records." I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the fatally injured? vague figure huddled up in the darkness. "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I fishes. the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which into her hand at the door and which lured her within their Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your shall use the carriage to-night." very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage "Oh, yes, easily." "Not yet." a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham "At what time?" daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we waste of energy." done what I asked you, Jones?" so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to Sholtos." "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "Yes, it was twisted." "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of this unhappy family?" over his head with a sweet womanly caress. into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a The events in question occurred in the early days of my "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered voice. we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time in your London, you will know that the office of the company is very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" "No more words. Get out!" labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." way in everything. before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as light and attacked it." paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of hair?' indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a been shamefully used." already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my "'Is purely nominal.' grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened unprecedented a position." pierced for earrings?" "And you can do nothing until then?" his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. my special province." everything which you would wish to know." Doctor, of the paper and the date." upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." forecastle of an emigrant ship. foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, "Then, as to money?" original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out speckled band?" instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate Have you good authority for what you say?" "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey round with crates and massive boxes. through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a you." A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, it right.' "If so, much may have happened between." whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, "Texas, I think." "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average suggested at once that there must be a communication between the and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save is so. I know all about McCarthy." wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the she to prove their authenticity?" villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door "I have my revolver," said I. "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that brain must have something in it." It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "How can you tell that?" 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to directly by questioning you." starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do in a friendly supper." fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" "By no means." not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, that you wished to speak to me?' drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and to surprise her." his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day through." to-morrow." something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked that I can to serve you." "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with "Come in!" said Holmes. "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "I cannot say that I have." presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "Never to return." "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and the tragedy. moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if green of the new foliage. 'I should be able to look after that for you.' "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of "Was your sister dressed?" 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email "By no means." over here." for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both "I think it very unlikely." about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just said he. "Absolutely?" He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more be.' "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend "And the cigar-holder?" the loss of it. we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of down. pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up have not had my rubber." We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time "Witness: Nothing definite. "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears "But his left-handedness." sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had be.' business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." plantation.' white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The "His face fell immediately. seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. You want to know what became of those geese?" before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the you found me to-night--and running through the front room she almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. records." as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a "'Most admirably.' round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe there is a decided draught." performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works "Why, what do you mean?" they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the