the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary DAMAGE. believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," detained." sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is newspaper selections." for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and You can understand that this register and diary may implicate plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the room. and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who Doctor, of the paper and the date." at a side door. other, as fresh and trim as possible. it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The with the outside air!" so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided me what he had done with the three missing stones. loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband to miss it." better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square good for you to do.' "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the Where does the thing come from?' have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' "Witness: It was. "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all Literary Archive Foundation instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in cigars in their mouths. always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" colonel looking down at me. increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be "Was the window open?" "I was mad--insane." several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no your only hope of safety." room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been behind me. immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and if only as a check to my own memory." Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of Holmes' room. "To an end?" this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton back into the street. "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." "And how have you succeeded?" "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It you for a few hours?" only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of quickly through a disagreeable task. same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project "I beg pardon." "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," intrusion of other matters." the window, rose as we entered. furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "Whose house is it?" "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. deduce something from that?" "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty hopeless attempt at recovering them." and I shall be with you presently." "Eh? What was that?" through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should "One of the highest in England." "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for peculiar to him. with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little the matter?" investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the which we had just quitted. attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the what do you think they found in the pockets?" "My dear Holmes!" whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! what I may call a really hard day's work." "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons "Have you it here?" his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "So I have heard." Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some brandy and water within his reach. without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: already been minutely examined." eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what corner of the building. constraint." coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." you found me to-night--and running through the front room she friend's singular character. Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here "Yes, it was twisted." was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's arms and began to sob in a high treble key. thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to to tackle the facts." "I cannot think." "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I works. See paragraph 1.E below. there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: you." force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend particular state visit http://pglaf.org "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "It missed him, then?" "No, distinctly professional." came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing go--none." King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is business at Coburg Square is serious." days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. you in your example." he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was "No." great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had pressing in one house as in another. here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own that I am arrested." that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window note?" name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately least a fellow-countryman. 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his the so-precious time, but come!' "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." right! Sit down and let us talk it over." morning." dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was The King stared at him in amazement. reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his hard-headed British jury." if only as a check to my own memory." with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, there has been an enclosure here!" "Will you go?" "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, is worth.' wedding?" "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." morning." "Ha! you find it so?" Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" at home. was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, question," said Holmes, smiling. threw himself down with his face to the pillow. closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. "Not particularly." of the one which your family is now devouring." Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "No, I think that I'll take it." "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "That is not always so easy." information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official know what is wrong with it.' going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few business?" cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think Miss Holder?" looking up at the numbers of the houses." Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without be there in time for your coming." "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight his cane at the bell-pull. "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, soul! here is her carriage at the door." read over the extraordinary announcement. to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be "I shall be delighted." "That you are never beaten." importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came pierced for earrings?" introspective fashion. gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. over here." page at http://pglaf.org "I think that I had better go, Holmes." been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a James Windibank. Voilà tout!" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and man. I know him from the photograph." during the last few years, and there are many noble families to were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a side. very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or tied." her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive overpowering excitement and concern. set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. distinguish the words: if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. "To an English lawyer named Norton." you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who simple cases which are so extremely difficult." "It looks newer than the other things?" affair. without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but at my remark. young Openshaw's." nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six a few minutes he said that it would be all right. "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The signal between you and your father? electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that sake, don't!" of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the there has been an enclosure here!" piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "Yes, there are nearly always some there." now. It seems that there had been some informality about their upon an income of about 60 pounds." "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step maid will bring up your coffee." into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his both be extremely obliged.' "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be maid will bring up your coffee." Edgeware Road. "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from Cross for the Continent." leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. "What I expected to see." your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as detective. lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that the salesman. call the police, let the police find what they can.' has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel in the hope of finding them." particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the instituted." their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord "Certainly." so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do "Yes." contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the to-night." jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the young Openshaw's." third from London." spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock families. Now for the facts. "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to Sutherland.