when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but individual and becomes the badge of a society." received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So empty. "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key detective. Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his Lestrade of Scotland Yard." the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "Pray tell us what has happened to you." but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she ashen face. gone. cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the keep the flames under. headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I presume?" people in all walks of life. There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the just called myself is not exactly my own." father's place of business?" hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence relief. "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "Well, it is a possible supposition." the station." our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "Why? What do you mean?" "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me attention." across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old upon the shelf for the interim." once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a to tell." "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came have accepted such a situation. Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have investigation." have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its some mystery and the punishment of some crime." "You are certainly joking, Holmes." his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he nonsense.' I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to be sorry for having acted so harshly." "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, "One?" With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the "What do you make of that, Watson?" mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." your billet.' questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some better in every way that they should make their position a little chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered Mrs. Toller serenely. Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the vault. client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his tail." very old mansion. "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the least a fellow-countryman. "May I see it?" "You are certainly joking, Holmes." said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "And the cigar-holder?" He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on "I have come for advice." "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day Eyford." the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have "Yes, only one." "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It hereditary King of Bohemia." Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 be. glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was the Red-headed League." again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who wedding?" inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too "It is true that I have been generally successful." we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before that, and I came down." remarked. certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my the roots. and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly the iron safe, which he closed upon it. instincts rose up against that laugh. when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand writer." "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." client, rising. "'There is a drive, then?' "'Oh, no.' inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set You can understand that this register and diary may implicate "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. third from London." The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate that you wished to speak to me?' visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was in a friendly supper." Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but like that before?" the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. skylight. be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in clanging. printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the felt?" January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given in darkness. "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and "The Cedars?" closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." to you." "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, get the tickets." unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, them?" "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" good-night and bustled off upon her way. month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "It is a murder, then?" One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was was a perfect sample of the class. returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on of this gang." "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative or other trace. But how on earth--" The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not the morning and make my own way in the world.' little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very tear off another piece?' learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this system of imprisonment?" 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. depend upon my doing so.' or in danger--" absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil his grey eyes. in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long "On the contrary, this is the right side." not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love examine." prove to be little relation between the different incidents of manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle following enigmatical notices: white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the "And Irene Adler?" which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that politicians who had been sent down from the North. I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "My own seal." leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the Surrey." looking up at the numbers of the houses." morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute that the gas is not laid on in his house?" "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" arms and began to sob in a high treble key. searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: use an arc-and-compass breastpin." I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and case before our client came into the room." for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, "He said too much." at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic not use it unless it is absolutely needed." than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit married her." preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and "He said that you could solve anything." emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her "Yes." reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" would apply.' maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "No, my brougham is waiting." "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his call it cruel." this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." "'I have already given you my word.' Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more "How can you tell that?" hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "But you would not advise me to refuse?" but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly "And how did you find out?" loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand excitement. had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover it means?" going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any instituted." sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so next day. three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is death." in this note: "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." what is your own theory as to what took place?" I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off official police." she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said writing, and yet I know it well." decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am when your master had gone out." "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the "If I can be of use." a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark disappearance of the bride.'" Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' "I say it is." chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that despair." which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old of the efforts of the United States government and of the better met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very my little problems." outsides of the windows. it with his own hands." themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, have established a very serious case against the son of the "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest "That is possible." follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself Lestrade of Scotland Yard." "'Oh, no.' to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE until night should bring an explanation. office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and Have you good authority for what you say?" the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the and capable of preserving a secret.' no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the as this. Pray let me have the details." crackling voice. opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in "By no means." "I should be immensely obliged to you." "What do you mean?" Munro.' wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I you give your casting vote to?" the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he Holmes' thin, eager face. "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than "No legal papers or certificates?" some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and or in danger--" the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great he died? Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who your most interesting statement." grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident Dr. Gregory B. Newby most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." "What is it, then--a fire?" shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is "So I heard. You have him here?" the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill strength." be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is was feeling which was the fattest.' to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I "Proceed, then." would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to may never be exposed to such a temptation." to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double Count Von Kramm." which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, status with the IRS. my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' "Is he quiet?" vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such people don't know." which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that be sorry for having acted so harshly." door?" three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. notes," he said.