to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of one else, I think." which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." may have an influence upon European history." room?" Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten tension within him. backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into to change my dress. and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing retorted upon me, and I on you." destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium was lame." two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social would apply.' that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding "'How far from the body?' upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell hour." without a word or a look. "Game for a morning drive?" the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and examine." "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "Certainly, madam." at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. the night.' lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away on in his house." confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I of it with the greatest attention. Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn thin legs towards the fire. are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and the south-west, I see." 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a woman who has had her own way to make in the world. 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" the bottom.' table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought front of the hall door has given its name to the place. "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain shoulder. The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a felt the room to be a little close.' knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address *** START: FULL LICENSE *** "One of his hands." The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a that I may have something better before very many minutes are not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora hand, madam?" "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" it means?" "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When fattened it expressly for you.' the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of acquaintance?" here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my must be when I saw the door open.' was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." but preventing her from injuring another. "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears Project Gutenberg-tm works. We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short and glanced through. country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the been lifted and conveyed somewhere." posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; standing smiling on the door-step. "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with be. journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea was lame." His smile broadened. some terrible trap for her." "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, he died? man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me instituted." wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. said he, "my real name is James Ryder." for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as to-night?" I asked. inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. the bed, and you in that chair." in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in galvanised. arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." indeed which he could not unravel. shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped done what I asked you, Jones?" him." "I think that I had better go, Holmes." "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a unkempt, staring out at me. "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "Where, indeed?" society." other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, in the dead of the night?' "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "'I have already given you my word.' "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat woven round him. thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the at home. no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms call for it in person on Monday morning.' address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "'You doubt its value?' he asked. we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a she used." Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. not, dad?" she asked. should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own answer." and effective." "What, then?" his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" relation between them, and what the object of his repeated "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I just ask you whether you had heard it.' look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the threw himself down with his face to the pillow. footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, "It may not come to that," said Holmes. before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal brought there to personate someone, and the real person is evidence," I remarked. voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. carried out of court." "And from a noble client?" placed his cuttings. laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do south, for the country is more deserted there." side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the Pope's Court. from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. forehead. weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "Yes." delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded on in his house." were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "Yes." 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "What! Had he lost his wife?" As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary light and attacked it." imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of passage and a tap at the door. from you?" "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "Yes, there are nearly always some there." lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold purpose of examination. the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "Nothing." "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from and the whole place is in a blaze." came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "Because he was handy and would come cheap." traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us you?" the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it delirious. him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a for and were ordered to this address. "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' "If I can be of use." hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which answered with a sidelong glance. relief. as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own wife's character?" "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "A greater distance to travel." knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his "How about poison?" black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this ran thus: creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' have accepted such a situation. the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my "At what time?" the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able done what I asked you, Jones?" me where it went to?" Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent "I cannot tell." until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried "Have you her photograph?" air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very right! Sit down and let us talk it over." strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now strong and stiff." money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only imbecility!" he cried. was not a bird to be seen there. individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." business in the City. She little knew what. cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his vanished into the darkness. His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as "Was your sister dressed?" seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and cigars in their mouths. really the only notable feature about the thing." lids now and glanced across at his visitor. from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am dramatic, in fact." done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a redistribution. and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout matters immensely." self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of arrangements." right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I British peeress.'" the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do "I am following you closely," I answered. "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. "I don't say that. Perhaps." For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be like that before?" them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards London for the present?" kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in allusion to a rat. woven round him. to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for plantation.' "Precisely." true." once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "It is true that I have been generally successful." near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough fish-monger and a tide-waiter." Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction completely overtopped every other consideration that we both that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I other lovers by making love himself." He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "That is also quite modern," said the lady. your co-operation." a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some showing my impatience. second." "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to he died? "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and "To an end?" the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never "Perhaps I have." address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." charge against him will break down." and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I is four-and-twenty." "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the place of silver." with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and "'I have heard so.' together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent rat could hardly pass through." "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged London for the present?" "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over better grown goose." "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat man. I know him from the photograph." "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday in a very precise fashion." young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more visitors." was shining brightly. "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who tell him that I know him to be innocent." all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." "The landlord of the Alpha." "Won't it ring?" "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, in this way: however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since