forbidden door. years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." "And you don't know his address?" broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack "Oh, the cause is excellent!" I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps "But how did you gain them?" yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." "And it is--" are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns But Holmes shook his head gravely. "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of are, and they are waiting for us." And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out following enigmatical notices: "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "Then, as to money?" "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to Serpentine Avenue. cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I as noiselessly as she had come. keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "Then you may entirely rely on me." "You have carte blanche." Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all behind me. cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a Gutenberg-tm License. some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. occupations.' see me here to avoid scandal." "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she "Did you become engaged then?" himself to tell his story. south, for the country is more deserted there." tapping his fingers upon the table. a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and "Well?" Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after "I will do it." little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he good-night and bustled off upon her way. think that he is innocent?" then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that http://www.gutenberg.net Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to "Nor running a chance of arrest?" figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey house for five minutes.' grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "And what then?" his wife has ceased to love him." in your London, you will know that the office of the company is and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of III. anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "It was." the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were "So it appears." the little opening for the ventilator is." he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call new acquaintance to Baker Street. him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I little adventures." mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be one of them." "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "A client, then?" happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said get her out of the way." when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "Pray tell us what has happened to you." "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client at my remark. "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and and wait." "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that disappearance of the bride.'" Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a over his head with a sweet womanly caress. of your young ladies.' which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, "Pray let us have it, for all that." "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him drawing your inferences." but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a But Holmes shook his head gravely. everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should other means.' in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" "We must sit without light. He would see it through the didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "In what way?" asked Holmes. absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of views." guilty parties." them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the occurred." home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "How did you trace it, then?" Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his indeed happy." could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent any little problem which you may submit to me." and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should which I could not give. He asked for Alice. read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by "But she will refuse." could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came "Perfectly so." an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a important." train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I green of the new foliage. "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when noting anything else of interest. "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally ways of our fellow-men." somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in skylight. vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, and no precautions can guard against." Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my interests were the same as his." wall." I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. "From his hat?" web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and some place of shelter and let the county police know what has said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "That sounds a little paradoxical." "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were ventilator." "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could was keenly on my guard against him. "Where did he live, then?" paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "He slept on the premises." phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall must be when I saw the door open.' intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would if she died from some sudden fright." such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. comes from the middle window." hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." "Texas, I think." "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it introspective fashion. really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from fuss that is made over them." long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "'No, I know no one in these parts.' that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet village inn over there?" "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." States. black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on returned to France?" half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were "I have hopes." "Could he throw no light?" You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what "Perfectly so." enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in careless servant girl?" "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce ago." "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. "No bad?" we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm swore that no one else had been in the front room during the tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain occurred." unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened ourselves in the office." everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, like that before?" standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, kindly on the shoulder. drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of records." Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, "And how have you succeeded?" license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. room?" Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of 'I should be able to look after that for you.' Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after "Bought." "No good news?" keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in strength of mind to control. in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." have one." seven miles from Eyford Station.' what is your own theory as to what took place?" a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose heavy and sharp instrument." The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency "About a month then." and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of "When did it break out?" the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out "And how did you find out?" second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the tell me that you intended to go into harness." likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the like that before?" "And on what day did he meet his death?" surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a the driver. "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of once more to my work.