think you a quite exceptional woman." the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and Eyford." that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had remarked. "I am in hopes that she does." he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped man. made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, "My stepfather's business papers." "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into showing my impatience. Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had families. Now for the facts. traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle again before evening." "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which "Yes, certainly." you in your example." Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his "You have it, sir, just as it happened." theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing "And why?" vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free you?' it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I "Yes, he did." "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. and prosperity to your house. Good-night." "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally Dr. Gregory B. Newby "None." white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" in my life." society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." weary and pale-looking. of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "You are hungry," I remarked. in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, "And you don't know his address?" submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the suddenly upon us." coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. I shall communicate with you." "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" new duties?' beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements quick march!" think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever "Married! When?" skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of what is your own theory as to what took place?" cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" "I have seen the police." that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer bled considerably." Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he know all about it," he snarled. Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De did not hear it also.' their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a bird I ate is country bred." "I will try. What is it?" money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "But not more so than I to find you." confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my desk. brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she "Not in the least." morning." house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton highroad, where all traces were lost. deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's writers could invent nothing more crude." safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced ventilator." "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I suddenly upon us." all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." The King stared at him in amazement. decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and views." me what he had done with the three missing stones. "He slept on the premises." the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into little trying to do so much typewriting?" the armchair which I pushed forward for him. his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not few hundred pounds.' "But you were on a friendly footing?" black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, nights." them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard weary and pale-looking. the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, means taking possession of that which another person has a prior reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously "I say that I have solved it." here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold the so-precious time, but come!' with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace during which he might have communicated with his friend the had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you God! What an exposure! What can I do?" to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the it. the armchair which I pushed forward for him. ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or "My photograph." some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just "'I am sure if I had known--' "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest to you." It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an and put his glass in his pocket. see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. was the fact that his father should, according to his account, state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly how narrow had been my escape. the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp singular points about the case. What did the police think of the teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. figure." first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that the very morning of the wedding." been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the will find little credit to be gained out of this case." thin legs towards the fire. would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself "Come in!" said he. "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, conceal it?" could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to "I came to find a friend." sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, and effective." had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold open." to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider confronted him. opened the door, and slipped through. I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" all-comprehensive glances. in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "What then?" He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest Lee, in the county of Kent." remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who in your London, you will know that the office of the company is certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a when your master had gone out." "I was afraid that you were engaged." the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at and prosperity to your house. Good-night." in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I leaning back in his chair. "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged there has been an enclosure here!" "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, "It is possible." have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom suggested at once that there must be a communication between the in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the bachelor.' "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and directors, with the result that you have seen." "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he I shall continue with my miserable story. "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "Could he throw no light?" would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or their singular warning or token before them when starting upon serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the was a loud and authoritative tap. plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very What do you deduce from it?" been anything against him. He had for years been known as a "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock not use it unless it is absolutely needed." the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another "Very truly yours, who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." cigars in their mouths. meanly of me." "VIOLET HUNTER." or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he once more to my work. thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My of." soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his Project Gutenberg-tm works. "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he few hundred pounds.' "'No, I know no one in these parts.' said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This God! What an exposure! What can I do?" photograph?" her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook "Thank you. Pray proceed." act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know answer." entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me directors have had misgivings upon the subject." mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "Imitated." I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his "And how did you verify them?" Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for made his money." lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he skylight. "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own to where he stood hid behind the curtain. "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his empty. thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that "Not particularly." It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, guilty parties." will take you up to see the machine.' should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your any more." "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' "Ah, but I was recommended to you." but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying Watson," he said cordially. "Certainly." Serpentine Avenue. from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running even so self-evident a thing as that." "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "You have a clue?" We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as to-night's adventure." "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "A call for help, you thought?" mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the "But it has twice been burgled." Cross for the Continent." retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so "Dirty?" gone. passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." my friend's incisive reasoning. "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or in my life." safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall "What will you do, then?" and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. ready to-morrow?' "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his ways including including checks, online payments and credit card "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no future lives." Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on is now desirous of getting those letters back." desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" good for you to do.' was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing