expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and whole matter to your consideration." young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its companion. submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." was lame." cause to be." "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the "Certainly." McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a Countess of Morcar's?" towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's "I beg pardon." to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that washing it down with a long draught of water. "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away "He might." Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads prove to be little relation between the different incidents of or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "In answer to an advertisement." caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "'I have already given you my word.' of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "I say that I have solved it." and no precautions can guard against." erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still bearing upon the case." good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, I shall continue with my miserable story. dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "Where, then?" in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than the devil!" as he folded up the epistle. fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon whatever might befall. the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between most important business. It is probable that he will be away all is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, works. See paragraph 1.E below. over part of the map. "What do you read?" started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and just called myself is not exactly my own." village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith hour?' "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a threw himself down with his face to the pillow. have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, lids now and glanced across at his visitor. late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary "How are you getting on?" Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there placed his cuttings. "Oh, fresh and glossy." everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began ashen face. should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled is so. I know all about McCarthy." the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you will he say when he returns?" suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little new acquaintance to Baker Street. "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "In San Francisco, a year ago." alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and drove away. the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still sake, don't!" "Game for a morning drive?" seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one ordinary clothes on?" said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, floor. of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never get the tickets." neither fascinating nor artistic." the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a daring than any effort of the imagination." January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a disturbance in my wife." with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the frequently gained my first real insight into the character of accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "The best possible." really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "Pray continue your narrative." "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the "Your French gold?" me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and lids now and glanced across at his visitor. form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the "Well, some hundreds of times." property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open there in twenty minutes." impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as against a man in the prime of life?" papers must be those that are destroyed.' "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the sake, don't!" McCarthy's innocence. hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, three of the beryls in it, was missing. did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her without a word or a look. 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before "I answered that I had not. have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I of note-paper. It read in this fashion: clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a DISSOLVED. my friend's incisive reasoning. of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. people don't know." business came to an end." sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel and inquire as to the address." the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "Not him." English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in them?" found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed were new raised from a basin. for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little to tackle the facts." "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air clanging. rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He which was all perfectly true. unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of putting in the horse. for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of burst into a hearty fit of laughter. "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set "But you have hopes?" used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so been with you?" prepare for the new role I have to play." stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet man. "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place read it out to me." with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was there when the Rucastles went away." you want, then?' "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, carriage. It was a chestnut." My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "A confidential servant?" James Windibank. Voilà tout!" would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' knowledge of the world." call the police, let the police find what they can.' gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his unprecedented a position." Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of happened." but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past "'Never.' it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business door?" august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to "We have tried and failed." III. last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He "To an end?" "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back woven round him. Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, like that before?" my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, congenial hunt. "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and me what he had done with the three missing stones. "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez man. a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." "I warn you that they are very incomplete." "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "Certainly." instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, my former friend and companion. and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the "'No, I know no one in these parts.' which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event jewels which you have stolen?' "So I heard. You have him here?" to his chemical studies. figure." dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the together. remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw the so-precious time, but come!' Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a floor. over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was neither fascinating nor artistic." "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, prove to be little relation between the different incidents of to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to "It must be recovered." Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal new acquaintance to Baker Street. with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own once more on the important position which you have been fortunate perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "In the cells." "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose The telegram which we eventually received came late one night which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I made his money." typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "I have solved it." you found me to-night--and running through the front room she locked. Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day lamp. "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and was already answered. "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion "Yes, he did." relief. The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly villagers almost as much as their master. shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few allusion to a rat. hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in was a lad." Lestrade of Scotland Yard." specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." "By no means." Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from official police." there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than memory. came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said door?" quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "But how did you gain them?" "But how did you gain them?" The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "What do you make of that, Watson?" "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "My photograph." charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the