superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the "Really! You surprise me." where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with you found me to-night--and running through the front room she "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will in this way: nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! the Red-headed League." heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith kind enough to tell me what I should do." laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and "'Certainly not.' upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her in my life." resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very Cross for the Continent." lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of "On your arm?" came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was I took the paper from him and read as follows: "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. compunction about shooting them down." gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" lips." drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat breakfast?" It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be have I gained?" breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up "I should wish to." what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when "There are none." be. "By no means." conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." morning." points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid "Eh? What was that?" where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little of the one which your family is now devouring." a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far clanging. cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "I have my revolver," said I. are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My his wife has ceased to love him." with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for do.' which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email in the port of London." James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again prisoner's face. be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the cheerful." "Nothing." about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do page at http://pglaf.org at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "Not I." spark where all is dark to me." long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the tell me that you intended to go into harness." tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start she to prove their authenticity?" skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which "I am still in the dark." vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that companion imperturbably. surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I "Yes." "It came here." "Certainly." walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "At the wedding breakfast." "Do you go out much in society?" Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but golden eyeglasses. "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to morning." goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of writer." tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building head. So long, then!" you understand?" more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a strong reason behind." we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. me have 200 pounds?' "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the spark where all is dark to me." They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. ago." hair?' whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. "In San Francisco, a year ago." Holmes' thin, eager face. "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could "Precisely." have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" "Where, then?" been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis Leave Paddington by the 11:15." it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I matter." misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly swore that no one else had been in the front room during the in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, "And how?" landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on business." said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague speckled band?" "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend rooms." discontent upon his features. but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had there was no need for father to know." suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right dead, shall be safe with us." 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a occurred." reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the "That you are never beaten." particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. "No good news?" was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR ashen face. James Windibank. Voilà tout!" three fields round his house, and there he would take his grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated your Highness to the police-station?" story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the "'You cannot say what it was?' "Perfectly so." "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the the side-table." "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. asked with his eyes open. somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "I am sure." crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That of Mr. Rucastle's." breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the points to suicide?" allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, business." name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a "No?" "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' bore every mark of being an average commonplace British developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to "It is true that I have been generally successful." friends, not even his own brother. and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "Yes, sir." gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it where she found matters as described by the last witness. thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "Dark enough and sinister enough." with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the said he. know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over the Assizes." And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an sufficient punishment." ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had orange pips. "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I nonsense.' sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as straighten it?" which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "'What are you doing there?' he asked. time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the sake, don't!" rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is cigar and let me expound." what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A instituted." observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. any more." "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" against a man in the prime of life?" "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his disturbance in my wife." get her out of the way." greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some down from London to inquire more deeply into it." Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have was it brought him the coronet? There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was 1.E.9. terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really happened." in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable himself. long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, that you wished to speak to me?' think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' see me here to avoid scandal." for the market.' came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his the bottom.' do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of over part of the map. "What do you read?" the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it before the coroner and the police-court." upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he nothing with him." Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. You want to know what became of those geese?" quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. himself to hunt down. prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would beg that you will break it off." "Quite so. She has her freedom." "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the he. "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up