find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my see a sister of mine apply for." the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "Why, what do you mean?" acted in my house last night?" bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his later, upon the night of May 2nd." bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless disappearance of these gems?" to have that photograph." any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away and a shock of very red hair. "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. morning." could gather together that I was able to avert another public "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond been." finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. chance at all." laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from as he remarks, very much against the son." dead, shall be safe with us." groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the empty. furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is you found me to-night--and running through the front room she conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my some city in a dream. horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If present." lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were there were one or two details which were new to me. But the much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was what I may call a really hard day's work." mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." "It must be recovered." Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. ventilator." own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call the roots. attention." into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those business." stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud McCarthy." at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography quickly through a disagreeable task. "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering "'No, I know no one in these parts.' a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted bed dies. Does not that strike you?" pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and companion imperturbably. not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the instincts rose up against that laugh. the Red-headed League." veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me ventilator." stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the these bleak autumnal evenings." met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will footfalls from the street. would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend when you have done it." skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look his fortune, and I went back to pa. The events in question occurred in the early days of my had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, have been better. It is all right." (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was keep the flames under. impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every official police." "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I him. A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "Perfectly so." overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all what these perils are?" science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of know that the truth is known." friend's singular character. over with notes and figures. hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy Leave Paddington by the 11:15." the best of training." grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "But how could you guess what the motive was?" envelope. of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were I leave." drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when money should be paid at once.' full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, "'Entirely.' the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a ordinary clothes on?" said he at last. "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far disappearance of the bride.'" incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim gone. "And your father? Did you tell him?" true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." "The gentleman I describe." lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my of Fenchurch Street." - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For "I cannot imagine." neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the presume?" "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always conceal it?" The events in question occurred in the early days of my "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk examination of the premises, but without finding anything which instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my matter over." "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his and I shall be with you presently." cheerful." flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. to-night?' McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? It may be so in this case, also." neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. both be extremely obliged.' unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven certainly not very gracious." were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old the warnings." clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious and put his glass in his pocket. with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." "I see many objections to any such theory." Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if "Quite so. She has her freedom." You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where States. her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from trying to your nerves." "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a "9th. McCauley cleared. demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "But how?" right! Sit down and let us talk it over." your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my papers." Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. Pope's Court. corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "Then, how do you know?" "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, chill to my heart. among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "And I say east," said my patient. good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get the side-table." photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "No. What a strange idea!" "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with "At what time?" I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea way: between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "'Quite sure, dad.' immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the "It is to him that this trophy belongs." mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some once more to my work. the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "Never." customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she hands. felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud chambers. "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" legal crime." "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at "What have you to say now?" "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' noise which awoke you from your sleep?" hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. "Witness: Nothing definite. have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, "'Yes, it was gone.' I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was ill-usage at the hands of fortune. Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not "No, but the enclosure is." years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If problems help me to do so." about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of prepare for the new role I have to play." neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "Perfectly so." c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like geese which you supplied to the Alpha." it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in hereditary King of Bohemia." anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had it with his own hands." "You heard nothing yourself last night?" I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of even so self-evident a thing as that." a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must vague figure huddled up in the darkness. front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have to-night's adventure." "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, of the one which your family is now devouring." could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from Heh?' which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I himself to hunt down. murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "It goes to the housekeeper's room." that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every have I gained?" before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from system of imprisonment?" "By all means." "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and have an American origin." "What! a murderous attack?" the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg woman who has had her own way to make in the world. But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid of." although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the indeed which he could not unravel. "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "'Why that?' I asks. rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "Won't it ring?" whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in the bottom.' what do you think they found in the pockets?" you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the "'I am sure if I had known--' by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were "Not yet." the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly had this final quarrel? to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right done what I asked you, Jones?" no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' chance at all." on re-entering her father's house?" "Then I do not see the point." vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact "'Ten to two.' calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I horse could go." "She showed me, as I told you she would." "I answered that I had not. of the vacancies.' would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the there is a decided draught." introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I hurried away. have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." it with his own hands." again before evening." "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, shadow pass over his face as I spoke. "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional question," said Holmes, smiling.