"Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and figure." "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no "The rest you will leave in our hands." "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the both be extremely obliged.' There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the to a more successful conclusion." "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter at a side door. common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. nice household for a young lady." found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, question. clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a of Fenchurch Street." hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at you." sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have matter over." Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the "Ample." contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my "Yes, I have one waiting." much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, with her." afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no "Whose house is it?" fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my "Yes." It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and stalked out of the room. "I should like to see him very much." out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" spark where all is dark to me." of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at hardly wander." condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master clang of the bell. chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came helping a boy to put up the shutters. simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite From what you have told me I think that it is possible that repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls "That sounds a little paradoxical." I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a present." colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told "Nothing?" society." there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be bill, which interests me deeply." the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "What have you to say now?" Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch the running down." unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his 11:15.' had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all that there was nothing in it, after all." promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is "'Is purely nominal.' to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" "Yes, at the mines." crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like a few minutes he said that it would be all right. morning." Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and For additional contact information: editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip "Holmes, the busybody!" "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" "'How far from the body?' presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "Whose house is it?" "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "And when will you call?" I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not details should find their way into the papers. Inspector and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it in darkness. mysterious business." "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "And how did you verify them?" forebodings. which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last Miss Holder?" not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "Yes. He waved his hands." submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly such person." Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my there was no need for father to know." burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "Certainly, madam." in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but lumber-room." "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" orange pips. play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment vague figure huddled up in the darkness. pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally someone who had been in Australia." subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and country, and eventually married, without anyone having a gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which experiences." "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which photograph?" I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. orange pips. "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered second." think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer out of this horrible affair." I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, security.' "I would give my fortune to have them back." woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs looking up at the numbers of the houses." "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for "It is to him that this trophy belongs." headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, golden eyeglasses. Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. events, Mr. Windibank!" from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a to a light-house. nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive said he. and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy cost them two and thirty pounds." the coronet at all injured?" without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though closing the door. presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "What do you mean?" in my life." "How are you getting on?" in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "The Cedars?" "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. there has been an enclosure here!" pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the became a certainty. You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of "What do you mean?" enter into my head. made him keep the appointment." "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "'What then?' I asked. success. "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He Project Gutenberg-tm works. "Which are?" Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "Pray tell us what has happened to you." St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn you." of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." "None." speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "Why, what do you mean?" waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to was a lad." characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me yourselves in at night?" of it with the greatest attention. luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "Yes. He waved his hands." smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the them present such singular features as the strange train of A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no of receipt of the work. gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar "Indeed! Whose, then?" the coroner come to?" "You horrify me!" when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the "That was it, sir." "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful his knees, staring into the fire. cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "If I can be of use." what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to which I could not give. He asked for Alice. sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." silent! Oh, he will be silent!' But Holmes shook his head gravely. "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace "Two days later this same performance was gone through under "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at "Then I do not see the point." discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated impression behind it as though a window had gently closed "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with has little to do with my story." to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As in. usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what "'You cannot say what it was?' there was no need for father to know." tear off another piece?' some place of shelter and let the county police know what has stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would "I have seen the police." light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or said he. to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. and all of them with the keenest interest. the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the be.' he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed good-night and bustled off upon her way. "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to highly," said Holmes. many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the "In San Francisco, a year ago." his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a other, as fresh and trim as possible. accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" now. It seems that there had been some informality about their gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all "Entirely." people don't know." is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is which was all perfectly true. The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We what do you think they found in the pockets?" St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "That is not always so easy." few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers said he, "my real name is James Ryder." as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. at a side door. standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he "A greater distance to travel." leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an "No sign of it?" probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." important." suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and promised to bring home. gone before you can get him to hospital." save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the rose-bushes. some mystery and the punishment of some crime." "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying fat-encircled eyes. against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that is a common subject for conversation. of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "In which, sir?" electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and second." my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat friend's singular character. against a man in the prime of life?" into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, "He said that you could solve anything." that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. that threaten you." began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. weigh very heavily upon my conscience." wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" "I was certainly surprised to find you there." "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when an introduction to him?" my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however,