Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when "What is it, then--a fire?" window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo death." second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My tapping his fingers upon the table. "I shall be delighted." may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I You can understand that this register and diary may implicate drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "Where, then?" "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them it right.' petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the "Witness: I must still refuse. developed." he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no how narrow had been my escape. "My own seal." swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey knowledge of the world." been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind "Precisely." despaired of." "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian tell him that I know him to be innocent." other, as fresh and trim as possible. is now desirous of getting those letters back." flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and shall use the carriage to-night." detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an carpenter." "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were events than those which have happened in my own family." "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My never will be, entirely cleared up. half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She nonsense.' green of the new foliage. known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." address. position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." For additional contact information: if I call to-morrow?" "How about poison?" them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "What will you say?" threw himself down with his face to the pillow. observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend "How did he come?" "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss and that he would see to anything that turned up. charged with?" "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he companion. rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert was shining brightly. of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter in a very precise fashion." however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me ordinary clothes on?" done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. "'What would be the hours?' I asked. away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my the Friday. Was it to be in church?" Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is your billet.' trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young present strange and interesting features that it is no easy somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "I have solved it." and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." really the only notable feature about the thing." fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of the coronet at all injured?" in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news "And it is--" "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather "Very. But will he see it?" she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we "Nothing?" over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them Farm upon the left." left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a "It certainly sounds feasible." "'A dozen yards or so.' reach." are, I think, all that we need." "She showed me, as I told you she would." garden below. night.' said he. look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place Miss Holder?" that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have putting in the horse. in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. http://gutenberg.net/license). first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated little adventures." long narrative. "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' it." I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have a very grave face. for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact questioning and rather startled gaze. The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. ourselves in the office." than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important the so-precious time, but come!' shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "To an end?" drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a again on its way. http://www.gutenberg.net call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to train.' certainly not very gracious." Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "I will try. What is it?" married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a point our research must commence, and we will begin it by the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his again." to-night." "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." Holmes' thin, eager face. asked. at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to "What do you mean?" while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "'Then let me do so?' "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the and prosperity to your house. Good-night." "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. happened." presume?" rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going "An enemy?" A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, brain must have something in it." unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always matters immensely." "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "Awake, Watson?" he asked. the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "Did your wife hear all this?" "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you to-night's adventure." education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "The rest you will leave in our hands." rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "But who is he?" between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how indiscretion." I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat "There are none." you give your casting vote to?" remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. woman who has had her own way to make in the world. keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no in my life." its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "No, I am descending." money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either "You have carte blanche." status with the IRS. upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her mystery may be cleared along those lines." places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most "I was afraid that you were engaged." particular state visit http://pglaf.org "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was mystery!" managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that The police have openly confessed that they can at present make At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had could go. "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at these bleak autumnal evenings." "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "That was it, sir." "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in went to the Alpha were town bred." reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there "When did it break out?" threw himself down with his face to the pillow. my former friend and companion. by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they in this note: qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter sooner or later she must fall a victim. undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then was a loud and authoritative tap. separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the extraordinary contortions. "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. to surprise her." be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, thirty. infinite languor in his face. you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their been able to understand it, in a very few words. done what I asked you, Jones?" At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for tear off another piece?' were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection "'Never.' other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. "No more words. Get out!" "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" him to go away.' yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle investigation." especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had she used." hurried away. (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself "But it has twice been burgled." not personally threatened." which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you he. and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we to a light-house. "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came national property. I was determined that the law should have its with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of to-morrow." probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, a very grave face. "My dear Holmes!" would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in and the colonel ushered me in. which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his locked. deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by writer." how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and held up the lantern and gazed about him. "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are "Your sister is dead, then?" jewels which you have stolen?' unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the "That is possible." Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but washing it down with a long draught of water. may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked "'Oh, no.' slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to villagers almost as much as their master. The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just