while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered and inquire as to the address." note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both "I should be immensely obliged to you." then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers which was all perfectly true. any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the habit of advancing money.' "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his "Won't it ring?" some water from a caraffe. fattened it expressly for you.' away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of galvanised. come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I This is what he says: "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an "She told me to ask you." caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened "Yes, it would be as well." smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "I think that I had better go, Holmes." confronted him. about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the do you make of it all?" his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "He slept on the premises." groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated have an American origin." perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite "Yes, there are nearly always some there." The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then the very morning of the wedding." developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. ourselves in the office." thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into horse could go." smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two in this note: back alive. this poor creature." reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his You can understand that this register and diary may implicate would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you unkempt, staring out at me. hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I dramatic, in fact." turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you union?" not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague which should have the effect of calling the attention of the has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, "She walked into the breakfast-room." which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, easy-going way." 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that "It is half-past ten now." now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm of it with the greatest attention. Lee, in the county of Kent." again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." stammered. "What?" "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress and glanced through. days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. served to weaken the effect. King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable held up the lantern and gazed about him. Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there "None." "By no means." lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and one's self under obligations.' cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight "What then?" upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the advice." think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he prisoner's face. side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the roused himself from his reverie. inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his carpenter." recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into her also." and that he would see to anything that turned up. be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "I am about to be married." "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, paper in the air. seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out him to go away.' inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with Watson," he said cordially. "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I British peeress.'" Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, "I am in hopes that she does." "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the hereditary King of Bohemia." such attractions and accomplishments?' "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of astonishment. in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "And what did you see?" sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I the very letters. But what is this written above them?' snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the your sleep?' the Friday. Was it to be in church?" Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' photograph a cabinet?" "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "That's no good." counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be "And on what day did he meet his death?" the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in were new raised from a basin. fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight did not hear it also.' With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the bill, which interests me deeply." there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "No, finished." "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "But it has twice been burgled." quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who "'And what are they worth?' I asked. as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and trying to your nerves." You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do door?" his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees four million human beings all jostling each other within the "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, "Precisely so. But how--" there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon "Did he not advertise?" where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an friends, not even his own brother. this truth that in these little records of our cases which you the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from "What is it, then--a fire?" "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned meant." happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and green of the new foliage. and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies your co-operation." and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. Gutenberg-tm License. as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in door?" "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as that you wished to speak to me?' Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" gives a meaning to it." "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a there has been an enclosure here!" "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, could go. possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." pound a week." more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" crime. will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "By train from Waterloo." "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots a little more before I quite committed myself. fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" which are rolled in Rotterdam." building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net some city in a dream. enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and said I. from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up the loss of it. Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "Witness: I must still refuse. description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more Lestrade of Scotland Yard." an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was sneer upon his pale face. reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door "But she could not love him." plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. never will be, entirely cleared up. somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for leave you to your papers for a little." perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about plantation.' not fit the lock." saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him know what is wrong with it.' large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg "I am armed." surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my ourselves in the office." whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I wedding?" "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I American. Then who could this American be, and why should he against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. to you." subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "And what did you see?" now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him himself to tell his story. the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and side. disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was house for five minutes.' "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free once more. "I will, Miss Turner." prison!" fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "And leave your case unfinished?" "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." generous with you in money matters.' the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud down in his armchair and closing his eyes. Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies in your London, you will know that the office of the company is the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "Come in!" said he. "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt instincts rose up against that laugh. hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' hour." end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were country, and eventually married, without anyone having a McCarthy's innocence. helping a boy to put up the shutters. violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon question. vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in morning." the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's leave you to your papers for a little." diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have bled considerably." fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of "How did you trace it, then?" "She walked into the breakfast-room." his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced my room." male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking "Yes, all." lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered which we had just quitted. "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I copied or distributed: multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could chambers. glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I important." moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of ran thus: surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my a few minutes he said that it would be all right. expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and My friend smiled.