"I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up wife's character?" place, I think that there is good ground to think that the prepare for the new role I have to play." Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual which our visitor detailed to us. equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." swore that no one else had been in the front room during the you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the that you saw all that I did." thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see husband's writing, madam." official police." smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my despaired of." and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't was used.' squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and "'As governess?' conduct the inquiry." WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged experiences." "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and I was concerned in it." X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "Pray do so." "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, helping a boy to put up the shutters. front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the prove to be little relation between the different incidents of on re-entering her father's house?" "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite leave you to your papers for a little." "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am present." midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well them?" and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he crime." "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with Foundation ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "It is solved." the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which "'Ample.' for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "'Certainly,' I answered. of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" "My Mary? Impossible!" child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be "The Cedars?" work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & was lame." of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's purpose of examination. We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to cost them two and thirty pounds." my friend's incisive reasoning. discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she in one or two places in England?' threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, "Nothing." sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal "Never." are, and they are waiting for us." problems help me to do so." have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. gigantic client. correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by Henry Baker is a member." the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his in the port of London." affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "It was a confession," I ejaculated. reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and have got?" Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "Yes." "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. already been minutely examined." for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "Yes." which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your "So I heard. You have him here?" solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a you understand?" other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." "Deserted you?" forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! province." "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, "That is not always so easy." We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and exactly what you advise." Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. ways including including checks, online payments and credit card "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly "What! a murderous attack?" "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this grasp, he hurried from the room. "No." "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday bore every mark of being an average commonplace British "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, back into the street. crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or the very morning of the wedding." "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. brought there to personate someone, and the real person is upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, business." "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of business matters.' fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in any little problem which you may submit to me." "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly leaning back in his chair. however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "Yes, he did." "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, gone. "Then, as to money?" "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. bed dies. Does not that strike you?" down. of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' "'Entirely.' Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "What do you make of that, Watson?" "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for photograph?" which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" signal between you and your father? and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do pressing in one house as in another. "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to I leave." Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "But we can't all be." without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative felt?" sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put question you as to those details which seem to me to be most clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. arrangements." Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet "At the wedding breakfast." again." should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and "You think so, too?" Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your "I say that I have solved it." the dangers which encompass me." "A greater distance to travel." Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "But I am all in the dark." it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between mysterious business." claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The disturbance in my wife." "Precisely so. But how--" considering the formidable letters which were received by himself adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a the inner apartment." upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of of note-paper. It read in this fashion: the inner apartment." of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: this poor creature." ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, the side-table." Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." people in all walks of life. "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their "'And the work?' his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always "He disappeared so suddenly." "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two was feeling which was the fattest.' "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it "But I have heard all that you have heard." still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining client, rising. seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. had this final quarrel? "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a from you?" patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "I came to find a friend." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to have had none more fantastic than this." spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a to that open window." me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." crowd. The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment "Seven!" I answered. "It is no ordinary one." the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than nonsense.' front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' had died away into the silence from which it rose. they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable one of them." and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. Serpentine Avenue. "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." or other trace. But how on earth--" the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be murdered man." "No sign of it?" that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "You have the photograph?" "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a breakfast." with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond considering the formidable letters which were received by himself It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at certainly not very gracious." "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a "Was she in good spirits?" newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. "Very well, sir. And this stone?" "No, I had a dozen." presented which may be striking and bizarre without being very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up chance." "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "I cannot imagine." Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into one or two very singular points about this room. For example, meanly of me." permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "What then?" received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible little trying to do so much typewriting?" "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with heavy and sharp instrument." encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a be.' make me his representative both with the servants and with the then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door locked. Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he "My opinion is in no way altered." typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front "Not in a good cause." are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is think, you have already met." stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, acquaintance?" course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the "Will you go?" been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. colour had been driven from his face. to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of infinite languor in his face. "'Certainly not. But why?' morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of had picked up in the wood. "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a evidence," I remarked. little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the me where it went to?" the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were overpowering excitement and concern. "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I Stoke Moran." "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "He is dead," cried several voices. his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." occurred." "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, distinguish the words: down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" Lee, in the county of Kent." "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's