cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to Chief Executive and Director violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there side. long narrative. instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told cigars in the box." empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two fashion which was peculiar to him. very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual as noiselessly as she had come. felt the room to be a little close.' the running down." been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't direction." "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point was not a bird to be seen there. story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to bill, which interests me deeply." The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite "You'll never persuade me to believe that." would apply.' half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, copied or distributed: Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how Where does the thing come from?' "But we can't all be." rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three overpowering excitement and concern. He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we I held the little printed slip to the light. the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, what I may call a really hard day's work." the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, to-morrow." guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I pound a week." "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "On Monday." "Certainly." some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he visitors." Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear "I say that I have solved it." to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "Have you her photograph?" look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual 'I should be able to look after that for you.' upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect of Fenchurch Street." "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in forebodings. American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the with you?" "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and her also." hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered upon an income of about 60 pounds." things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every that there was nothing in it, after all." "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were golden eyeglasses. ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should back to my heart. "Now, then, what's the last entry?" guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "I should be immensely obliged to you." into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. hardly wander." the date of his supposed suicide." but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my other, as fresh and trim as possible. us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, little trying to do so much typewriting?" own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a interests were the same as his." married her." the matter." least a fellow-countryman. back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing redistribution. "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "And sit in the dark?" and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. narrative." "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. "Did your wife hear all this?" ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a late!' (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK populous neighbourhood." explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which "Yes, it was twisted." "Witness: It was. the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying upon the white wrist. "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "But you can know nothing of this?" whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and way in." and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking get her out of the way." India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was "To an English lawyer named Norton." him and tried to hold him back. the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon "Very well, sir. And this stone?" of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst meant it for the best. "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual "My dear Holmes!" and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "Not particularly." "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "What then?" "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "'It is locked up,' I answered. direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the drove away. never will be, entirely cleared up. photograph a cabinet?" devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the His name is Francis Prosper." to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "Very truly yours, stalked out of the room. be best to do. why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to I have it here in my museum." look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in past. they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate seem to you to be relevant or not." shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." your equipment. "How are you getting on?" I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face not come at once?" bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an what do you think they found in the pockets?" clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his foresight and the moral retrogression?" planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the "No bad?" fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." "'Is purely nominal.' brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it been with you?" "To the police?" fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my what I may call a really hard day's work." in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "Yesterday." "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the colonel looking down at me. "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "Yes." could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note walking." impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an "Yes." a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or bore every mark of being an average commonplace British Street. Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." at my own good fortune. shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot drove away. "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in delirious. "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact "Quite so. She has her freedom." upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the "But who is he?" those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever from you?" Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not the address that was given us in the advertisement. young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. fuss that is made over them." "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were a little more before I quite committed myself. own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my delighted to hear it," he said. however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the you understand?" absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean companion. that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "By no means." neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the ways of our fellow-men." occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, "Quite so." appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it "He might." enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, "But she will refuse." "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than anything to do with the matter?" he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project envelope. recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has have established a very serious case against the son of the silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. there." it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire unprofitable." "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to "Nor running a chance of arrest?" impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me photograph?" and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." "A greater distance to travel." In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall you came in." "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my matter." arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, straightened it out again. than to us. would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning License. You must require such a user to return or "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "May I see it?" "My last client of the sort was a king." whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "No more words. Get out!" "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the "I was mad--insane." against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and "VIOLET HUNTER." away in different directions, and I went off to make my own with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution the coroner come to?" she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from constraint." I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "I will get her to show me."