to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very that he has suffered." imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever lumber-room." stalked out of the room. "You are certainly joking, Holmes." garden below. of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it in your London, you will know that the office of the company is glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her easy-going way." Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a upon an income of about 60 pounds." means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the know that the truth is known." "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could your own bird, so if you wish--" vague figure huddled up in the darkness. "You think so, too?" brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." certainly do as you advise." "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that upon the white wrist. in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to rooms." "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "Where, then?" served to weaken the effect. "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" tightly behind him. mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" "Then he might have called to you?" He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of have been better. It is all right." someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "I cannot say that I have." and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in look dissatisfied." tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was "My dear Holmes!" his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was desk. "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "What, then, did Peterson do?" "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker of Mr. Rucastle's." "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in "And what then?" and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered highroad, where all traces were lost. "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had in. "'And what are they worth?' I asked. here." knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly your bag." "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. you." compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on case before our client came into the room." "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who clang of the bell. until night should bring an explanation. "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat advice." anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little to Leatherhead. trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with been with you?" work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular of it with the greatest attention. he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my "But I am all in the dark." to arrive at through this?" "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of Literary Archive Foundation to have that photograph." half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what a few minutes he said that it would be all right. eavesdroppers?' strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very people in all walks of life. considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, of his shoulders. "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "No bad?" serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great everything which you would wish to know." liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it strong and stiff." key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, do you make of it all?" "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, of this gang." this unhappy family?" and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever national property. I was determined that the law should have its "Certainly." unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which made his money." "One?" find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in not, dad?" she asked. police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my look upon these things in a different way." his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual Have you good authority for what you say?" the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my "My opinion is in no way altered." Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party or in danger--" as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands here and I will read it to you: pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a maid will bring up your coffee." with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have purpose of examination. "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the back to my heart. "My dear Holmes!" "That also I could fathom." He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to events, Mr. Windibank!" "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but "Just look it up, then." matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have too. yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "Do you know him?" very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at States. by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the His smile broadened. records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on The police have openly confessed that they can at present make I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the Holmes. away to you." "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a thin, with a long, sharp nose?" it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that a little more before I quite committed myself. sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between points in connection with it which never have been, and probably to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the obstinate." detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while will find little credit to be gained out of this case." Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London "'What do you call purely nominal?' "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I beg that you will break it off." Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your a room. "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the shall use the carriage to-night." and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been their singular warning or token before them when starting upon this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small enter Dr. Roylott's room." he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from "To ruin me." in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King presented which may be striking and bizarre without being right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened down in his armchair and closing his eyes. him to be an active member of the medical profession." master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were along the entire front of the house, with three long windows "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them brain must have something in it." hard-headed British jury." problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: "Indeed! Whose, then?" "It is possible." horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and interested in these little problems, and since you are good "Tired-looking or fresh?" something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took bed dies. Does not that strike you?" "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "Has he come with you to-night?" About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and "Awake, Watson?" he asked. he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back whereabouts. through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client I am not easy in my mind about them." It may be so in this case, also." "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is Leave Paddington by the 11:15." because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from along the entire front of the house, with three long windows "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from better in every way that they should make their position a little Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. "Where did you address your letters, then?" out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had asked. town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon point in the dark hollow of his hand. "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to "Oh, the cause is excellent!" Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling whereabouts. "Nothing." unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should "'Very good.' passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, meanly of me." "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great "'And what salary do you ask?' figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes "That is easily got." to miss it." "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." fear." standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "They are typewritten," I remarked. himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can are windows in it, of course?" education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. you." Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "But she could not love him." in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for existence." Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much could go. them, and came down just as you departed. "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project use an arc-and-compass breastpin." true." power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm my former friend and companion. informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "It must be recovered." will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank indeed happy." concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove answered with a sidelong glance. to talk it over. "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and "No." "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not strength in the others." ourselves in the office." size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. them present such singular features as the strange train of "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only one else, I think." Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the breakfast." of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to with you?" friend's singular character. became a certainty. abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have October 9, 1890. stammered. "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See "What do you mean?" law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the about. number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a derbies." matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly business matters.' "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There the coronet in his hand?" lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," forecastle of an emigrant ship. travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be place no limit on the sum I may draw." grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I before this gentleman anything which you may say to me."