mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out of campaign. feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I begun to whiten, even as mine has." "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go ways of our fellow-men." the room while you explain this matter?" wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited happened." There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and obstinate." photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements of." floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush instituted." petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. bled considerably." noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "He might." as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, "Yesterday." compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" "'Which dealer's?' "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want London for the present?" "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 see me here to avoid scandal." his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "Precisely." not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "9th. McCauley cleared. the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his bedroom door." words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." bed dies. Does not that strike you?" "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his chamber." here." be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left it with his own hands." telegram would bring me down to your help." "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your sufficient punishment." trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. place, I think that there is good ground to think that the 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. together. one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be Literary Archive Foundation that he has suffered." his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to The note was undated, and without either signature or address. matters immensely." "Well, some hundreds of times." examination of the premises, but without finding anything which arrangements." "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "That was it, sir." forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "You have the photograph?" conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he "It is half-past ten now." Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will "I guessed as much." across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project face and glided from the room. one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very "Certainly, madam." do." The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, see a sister of mine apply for." and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came my friend's incisive reasoning. see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it and your relations to her." "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is locked. scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." is," said he presently: of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before touch that coronet?' anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" hand, madam?" she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, "Which are?" "This photograph!" instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." them?" married her." important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The works. do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the third from London." Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming For additional contact information: gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other envelope. "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there mystery!" but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do could not have written that. It is the German who is so shadow pass over his face as I spoke. "What then?" "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your felt the room to be a little close.' sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was "Your sister is dead, then?" signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or excitement. it? Did I buy the geese off you?" day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock "One horse?" interjected Holmes. as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her present." than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. American. Then who could this American be, and why should he He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. I am not easy in my mind about them." Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder "And how in the world did you find them?" all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm light and attacked it." chair. "Do you go out much in society?" came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. keep the flames under. astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an "What, then, did Peterson do?" "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of think that he is innocent?" did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I and that he would see to anything that turned up. eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how that?' confronted him. "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a call the police, let the police find what they can.' "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. be. "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "That is also quite modern," said the lady. "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project "Indeed! Whose, then?" month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." washing it down with a long draught of water. paper in the air. "What will you do, then?" providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "Will you go?" Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen "I will not look." keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project security.' Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man "Get out!" said he. "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the "I think it very unlikely." nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by will not take me long to tell. The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. question you as to those details which seem to me to be most "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem "Certainly." gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very cause to be." believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when three fields round his house, and there he would take his freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so peculiar to him. which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk definite end. Clair, of Lee." their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "How on earth--" must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "I came to find a friend." I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, "You'll never persuade me to believe that." the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I I nodded again. that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the "You are certainly joking, Holmes." "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I views." the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "My private note-paper." My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently Leadenhall Street--and--" large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save congenial hunt. before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "The gentleman I describe." the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's "Have you it here?" "Nothing." plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between with frightened eyes at his accuser. look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that showing my impatience. "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I ready to-morrow?' rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in face and glided from the room. gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a was lame." late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "And I say east," said my patient. Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you "Quite so. She has her freedom." "My dear Holmes!" With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line "It must be recovered." where Mr. Fordham shows you.' copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no strong reason behind." no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his pressing in one house as in another. cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any said I. reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small other, as fresh and trim as possible. may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This from you?" brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a strode off upon his way. office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and "No." only touch the interest." "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both been able to understand it, in a very few words. vague figure huddled up in the darkness. there when the Rucastles went away." and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. "If I can be of use." was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of